Burn
by nalusaurus
Summary: AU. After Lucy's father makes a bad deal with the Phantom Lord tribe that goes awry, she finds herself captured by Fairy Tail and a mesmerising pink-haired man. Nalu.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Be aware, this does have talk about rape BUT it does not happen.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or the characters.**

 **Chapter One**

She watched her village burn as she got carried away by a man with dark hair. She knew the day that her father had aligned himself with the sketchy tribe _Phantom Lord._ He had been so eager to believe the lies that those men would protect his 'precious little girl'.

That morning, _Phantom Lord_ had come to 'collect their debt'. Her father was happy to dish out as much money as they wanted as their tribe was one of the richest around. Little did he know, they didn't want money. They had come for his precious daughter.

Lucy had been ripped from her tent kicking and screaming and shoved in the middle of the village for everyone to see. They had wanted everyone to watch as they forced his 'little girl' to become a woman.

Her clothes were ripped to shreds but all she could do was scream and whimper and she was pinned down by a man on each of her limbs.

The leader of the tribe, Jose, eyed her with interest. She had spat at him with utter disgust, shouting curse words at him. He had slapped her, until her lip began bleeding and proceeded to ready himself.

Lucy screamed once again, squeezing her eyes shut. But nothing happened. When she opened her eyes again, Jose was gone and his men when unpinning her and running after him. They were under attack.

Lucy had just been able to find a sheet to wrap around her body before she had been found.

Now here she was, thrown over the arm of a dark haired man walking to an unknown destination probably to only get raped when she got there. She didn't know if she had really escaped her fate.

She looked up at the man that carried her. He was at least more handsome than the deplorable man that had tried to have her before. He was shirtless with a silver cross hanging over his neck. He wore dark trousers that hung low on his hips and he seemed to be well built.

She realised after a while that she had not heard any of them speak. She had been so caught up in her own fear that she had not bothered to even look around at the others. She seemed to be in a small group of about five, including the man that held her.

First there was a beautiful red-head. She gave of the sense that she was unbelievably strong and wore armour to match that image.

Next there was a white-haired girl. Her hair was cut short, in a bob, and if Lucy had to guess, she would say that she was probably the weakest of all her friends. She seemed to have a kind soul though.

Then there was a man with long, black hair and bolts all over his body. Lucy recognised him as being a former member of Phantom Lord and was surprised at how well he seemed to be fitting in his new tribe after only a couple of months.

Last, but definitely not least, was the pink-haired boy in front of her. He fascinated Lucy. His wild hair was not only her favourite colour, but her favourite _shade._ She had many dresses back at her village that were the same beautiful colour. He was well built, like the rest. He gave off a huge aura of strength but also one of recklessness, like a child that had discovered an immense power. He wore a strange, scaly scarf around his neck, a black and gold vest and matching trousers.

Lucy couldn't keep her eyes off him as he walked ahead of her.

"Eugh" the man holding her complained "Can't you take her, Natsu? You're the one who saved her and insisted on bringing her back!" The pink-haired man, Natsu, turned back to look at him companion and rolled his eyes and then he looked at Lucy. He was still walking backwards, caught up in their stare. Neither of them could look away. She got lost in the intense stare of his dark eyes. This one was definitely better than Jose. He only looked away when the man carrying her called his name.

"Natsu!" the man snapped, Natsu didn't look too impressed.

"I see you're finally admitting I'm stronger than you Gray!" he jested.

"No way!" Gray shouted "This woman's just heavy!" this annoyed Lucy. A lot. Instead of staying quiet and trying to preserve herself, she decided to hit him. She smacked him in the chest, earning an annoyed growl from Gray and a loud laugh from Natsu. She smiled a little at that but did her best to hide it.

"You should have better manners when in comes to women" his red-haired companion said in a serious tone.

"Yes, Erza!" He said to her, compliantly. Lucy almost laughed at how afraid of her everyone seemed to be.

"Here" Natsu said, reaching for Lucy. Gray nodded and handed her over. Instead of slinging her over his shoulder as his friend had, Natsu carried her bridal style. Though she felt more comfortable, she couldn't help but think, with the way he was staring, that he had done it to get a better view of her body. The cloth she had tied to herself at the front was not particularly flattering so she felt a little more relaxed.

She looked up at him seeing if her fears were confirmed but he wasn't looking at her chest. He was looking intensely at her face again, capturing her eyes. He stared at her for a while before he gave her a huge grin which she couldn't help but return.

He looked like he wanted to say something but he didn't seem to trust his words. After what seemed like an age of fighting with himself, he simply broke eye contact and looked forward, not uttering a single word.

The walked for about another half an hour before Lucy suddenly felt completely worn out. Her eyes started closing, and soon enough she had fallen asleep in the arms of her captor.

He watched her curiously as she fell asleep in his arms. He wasn't sure what to make of her really. He had felt that way since he had saved her.

Something had just snapped in him when he saw her about to get raped by that slimey man. She looked really scared and for some reason it had hurt his chest to see her expression. Before he knew it, he had ripped the man of her and beaten him until his was unconscious. Maybe a little more after that.

He looked over at her briefly, gulping loudly when he realised she was completely naked. That was an image that was going to haunt him in his dreams for a long time. He tore his eyes away and realised that he was needed to deal with the rest of the tribe.

After that she had been picked up by Gray, then handed over to him and that where she was now. Snug in his arms. He pulled her a little closer and was rewarded with a sigh. She looked like she hadn't slept in days. He was really glad that he could do that for her. He shook his head trying to cast away his silly thoughts and calm his racing heart.

"You could of just thrown her over your shoulder" Lisanna complained, pouting as she walked next to him.

Lisanna. Right. He had completely forgotten everyone else was there. He looked over at the silver-haired girl and frowned a little to himself. She was supposedly his future fiancee but everytime he thought about it he felt uncomfortable and his heart ached a little. He looked back at the girl he had in his arms quickly and his pulse soon sped up causing him to frown further.

"I think she's been through enough manhandling today" he sighed honestly. Lisanna didn't look too happy with the answer but she didn't question him.

They slowly approached their camp, hearing the cheers of those they had left behind for their safe return.

"What are you going to do with her?" Gray asked, nodded in the direction of the girl in his arms.

Natsu hadn't really thought about it when he told Gray to pick her up. They had left the rest of her tribe unharmed bar the scum that had been attacking them, but he had felt a strong need to keep her where he could protect her. He hummed as he looked at her then looked back at Gray.

"I guess she'll be staying with me" he said, Gray raised his eyebrows and chuckled.

"Has our little Salamander finally grown up?" he chuckled. Natsu frowned and then blushed furiously as he understood the implications.

"Nothing like that! Just 'cause you're a perv don't mean I am!" he growled.

"Then what did you want her for?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"I don't know, I just kind of did it" he frowned and Gray laughed again.

"Have fun!" he said, waving as he left Natsu and the Blonde alone.

Natsu carried her over to his tent and quickly ducked inside. He managed to place her on his fur covers before he was attacked from behind.

"Natsuuuu!" Happy cried as he saw him. The blue exceed flew into his arms and held fast to him. He only let go when he felt a reassuring pat on his head.

"I'm okay, Happy" he smiled and Happy looked over at what he had just put down in their home.

"Who's she?" Happy flew down to inspect the blonde, poking her in the cheek. She, much to the relief of Natsu, didn't stir.

"Don't poke 'er, Haps!" he said, a little too desperate for his liking "She's gonna be staying with us from now on" he smiled and Happy flew up and landed on his shoulder, inspecting the blonde again.

"So she's a new friend?" Happy asked and Natsu nodded.

"Yeah, a special friend" he said accidentally out loud, not really sure of what he meant himself. He assumed it was probably because she was weird and he shrugged and went outside to join the others to get his wounds tended to.

He smiled to himself a little, unaware as to how much the sleeping blonde would change his life.

 **A/N I know its short but I just wanted a quick introduction to the characters and the world, ect. I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Yo! Thank you so much for all the favourites and follows! I can't believe it's at nearly at 30 follows already! Additional thanks to the wonderful reviews I've had :) You guys are awesome :D Hope everyone is enjoying Fairy Tail Monday (as I call it) and the new chapter! The new storyline is getting so juicy! All I need now is some more Nalu :P**

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

After everyone had been bandaged up, they had all had a feast to celebrate their success. The Fairy Tail tribe was slowly taking over the land with each successful mission.

The blonde had still not emerged from Natsu's ten since he had put her in there. It was getting dark so he decided to go back to his tent to rest for the night, Happy flying by his side.

As he got in his tent he was surprised to see the blonde was still asleep. She either must have been really tired or all the emotional trauma was causing her to just sleep for the day. He shrugged as he prepared for bed, stripping down to his underwear. He pulled the cover out from under the blonde, crawled onto the furs next to her and replaced the cover on top of them both.

He decided to turn his back to her as having another person in his bed was somehow distracting.

Happy had curled up on his furs across the room and was asleep, contently purring.

Natsu shuffled around in the bed, feeling uneasy. For some reason he was finding it hard to sleep. He continued to move around until his back hit something soft which he soon realised was his bed partner. At first he felt uncomfortable with the contact, but soon enough her steady breathing had lulled him into a deep sleep.

At first when Lucy woke up, she thought she was back home in her usual tent. She smiled to herself, not bothering to open her eyes.

She felt something soft and hard against her face. Sighing, she rubbed against it, enjoying the feeling. She assumed it was her rug until she heard it purr. She snapped her eyes open when she realised rugs didn't purr.

She screamed loud enough to wake the whole camp when she saw what was in front of her. It was blue and furry. Then it turned around to face her.

"Good morning! I want some fish!" it cheered and Lucy screamed again. Not only was it a cat, it was a talking cat.

"Jeez, Blondie! Why are you being so loud, weirdo?" She heard Natsu say across the bed from her. He turned around to look at her and saw the talking cat. Somehow, unlike Lucy, he was not freaking out. "Happy!" he scolded and the cat turned around "What did I say about sleeping in my bed?" Lucy was too amazed to say anything.

"Sorry, Natsu" Happy said in a sad voice "She just looked so comfortable…" the cat put his head down and Natsu patted him.

"It's okay, buddy" he sighed "Just don't make a habit of it" with those words, the cats face lit up.

"Yay! Can we go fishing now, Natsu?" he asked with a renewed enthusiasm.

Before Natsu could reply, Lucy found that she could longer stop herself and reached her hand out to sate her curiosity. She stroked the blue cat's fur, immediately drawing its attention back to her.

"Soft" Lucy mumbled and managed to get a smile out of the cat, who purred under her touch.

"I'm Happy!" the cat shouted "What's your name?" she chuckled at his enthusiasm and assumed it had something to do with his name sake.

"I'm Lucy" she smiled at him "Nice to meet you, Happy" the cat immediately jumped into her chest which surprised her a little, but she held onto him as she felt him wrap his arms around her.

"Yay! Lucy!" He cheered making her laugh again. Natsu had been watching them with curious eyes, something which Lucy couldn't help but notice.

"Lucy" he said to himself, almost as if he was testing how it rolled of his tongue. She watched him closely, taking in all her surroundings and trying to suss out the man that was lying, or now rather sitting, next to her.

It didn't take long for her to utter another, this time somewhat quieter, scream when she realised he was only in his underwear.

"Jeez, Luce! You're so loud! People are going to get the wrong idea" he said with his hands over his ears.

"You're the half-naked pervert!" she huffed, letting go off Happy to cross her arms. The little cat was glad to get away from his noisy friend.

"There was only one bed and why would I sleep in my clothes?!" he argued. She frowned when she realised they were actually reasonable excuses.

"Look, I can try and get another bed so you don't have to sleep in mine…" he grumbled.

"What makes you think I'm going to stay with you?" she huffed. His face turned hard and his eyes lost their playfulness.

"You saw what we did to your camp. Do you really think I'm going to let you go so easily?" he said in a serious tone. It wasn't threatening per se but it was enough to convince Lucy to shut up about leaving. She could have had it much worse. At least he wasn't trying to rape her.

"Fine" she gulped.

"Alright" he said and smiled again. It scared her how he could change from childish and sweet to serious and threatening in a second. She couldn't find it in her to smile back at him. After a minute, he got up, dressed and left her in the tent without another word.

Lucy pulled her knees against her chest and hugged herself, placing her forehead on her knees. She felt like crying.

She felt a poking at her side and look down to see Happy looking up at her with a sombre expression.

"I'm sorry, Lucy!" he cried. She let go of her knees, sat properly again and put the cat in her lap, patting its soft head. "He's not always mean!" Happy promised, Lucy nodded, not trusting herself to speak without crying.

"He's just been lonely since Igneel left and I think he wants to be friends…" Happy trailed off, wondering if he had said too much.

"Who's Igneel?" Lucy asked, curiosity overtaking fear. Happy looked up at her with wide eyes.

"Igneel is Natsu's dad" Happy explained "He's also a dragon" Lucy's eyes widened. She had heard of dragons but she didn't believe that they still existed.

"His dad is a dragon?" Lucy gasped.

"Aye. Natsu is half dragon and half human" Happy looked down "Don't tell him I told you, I don't want him to get sad. He always get's like that when someone mentions Igneel…" Lucy patted him on the head and gave him a reassuring smile.

"It's okay, Happy. I won't say anything" She smiled "We're friends, right?" the cat perked up, flying up from his perch on her lap and flying around her head, she was surprised to say the least.

"Aye!" Happy cheered.

"You can fly?!" Lucy asked.

"Aye!" Happy chirped again, continuing to fly circles around her head. She laughed as she watched him, completely forgetting her worries, happy to have made a new friend, forgetting all the remaining questions she had.

* * *

Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. She was all he could think about. Why had he scared her? He didn't mean to get angry. He was just scared she was going to leave him. He had had enough of people leaving him. He growled.

Blonde hair. Brown Eyes. Lucy. He couldn't get her out of his head. Why was he so obsessed. He was looking extremely pissed off as he crossed the camp to find Wendy's tent.

And why did he say he would get her another bed? Didn't he like having someone to sleep next to? Why was she driving him so crazy? He growled again. The second she had looked upset he had caved. Hell, when he had shouted at her he had to run away because she looked scared. It made his heart hurt a little to think she was scared of him. But at least she would stay now.

He threw open the flap to Wendy's tent and stomped inside.

"WENDY!" He roared, still in a foul mood. Wendy immediately ran to where she had heard his voice in an obvious attempt not to anger him further. Natsu was seldom seriously angry, but when he was he had a habit of destroying everything in his path.

"Yes?" she squeaked, wincing a little when she saw his angry face. His features quickly softened when he realised he had scared the girl. He placed his hands over his face in an attempt to regain his composure.

"Sorry" he said softly, letting his hands fall from his face to reveal a sad expression. Wendy sighed and relaxed.

"It's fine, Natsu" she smiled "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly. She was always worrying about everyone. It bought a smile to his face.

"Yeah, you don't have to worry about me, Wend!" she returned his smile and sighed.

"So what can I do for you?" she said cheerily.

"I was wondering if you could make some clothes for my new friend and maybe another bed" he said.

Wendy was a pretty good healer and also an amazing seamstress. She made the majority of the clothes for the tribe and she was quick too. She had become an invaluable ally to Fairy Tail when they adopted her after her old tribe _Cait Shelter_ was destroyed. Natsu loved her like a little sister.

"Sure, Natsu! Just send your friend over at some point today so I can measure them and I can make them some new clothes for tomorrow" she said "the new bed might take a few days because we don't have a lot of furs at the moment but I can ask for some more after the hunt tomorrow"

"Thanks, Wendy! You're the best!" he cheered and scooped the girl up into a big bear hug. The idea that Lucy still had to sleep next to him for a few more days had made him more cheery than he would care to admit.

"Happy to help!" she smiled as he let go of her.

He waved goodbye to her and skipped back to his tent in a much better mood. He stopped outside the tent door, suddenly worried again. He wasn't sure if he should go in.

Natsu was completely unaware that on the other side of that thin flap, the girl he was worrying so much about was also debating whether she should cross the threshold and find him, worrying about him just as much as he did her.

* * *

 **A/N Just wanted to mention that this week and next week are going to be extremely busy for me. I have already started on the new chapters but if I post a little late its due to my insanely busy schedule. I'm going back to uni, moving into a new place and writing my dissertation so yeah... seeing as I am ahead of myself so far, I might double post this week if I can finish off the fourth chapter in time :) Hope you enjoyed!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Yo! I can't believe I'm already at 50 followers! Sorry there was no double post last week, I've been super busy :/ Hopefully I shall have a lot more time next week to write! Enjoy ^_^**

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

What if he was still angry? She felt tempted to pace few laps around the tent again before deciding. She reached her hand out but retracted it before she could touch the door. She frowned.

Happy was back on his bed, sleeping softly once again, waiting for Natsu to return so they could go fishing. She swore all that cat thought about was fish.

She debated whether she should just wait for him to return. Though she was worried he would leave her all day since he left looking angry.

She really didn't want to leave the safety of the tent. Outside was full of people she didn't know.

Just then, the tent flap opened, completely cutting off her thoughts and forcing her to face her problem directly. Natsu stood right in front of her, staring in her eyes. He was a bit taller than her but they were practically face to face, only inches away from touching skin.

It took her a minute to react and jump back out of his way. He obviously took the action as a sign she was scared of him because he looked a little upset. It made her a little sad. She was supposed to be scared of him but after what Happy said, she couldn't stay mad.

Natsu stepped into the tent, using the space she had just provided and let the tent flap fall behind him. She was suddenly aware that she was practically alone with him in a tent. In a camp full of people who wouldn't care if she screamed. Instead of feeling scared, she blushed a little.

"Look, I'm so-" she started but he cut her off.

"I'M SORRY!" he shouted and got down on his knees knotting his fingers together and presenting his hands to her in a sign of submission. He had his head down and she couldn't help but find the whole situation amusing. She had been scared to death of this man not long ago and now he was on his knees for her. She let a laugh slip out.

He looked up at her utterly bewildered but completely mesmerised. Soon enough he had pulled his hands apart and stood up.

"Sorry!" she laughed, wiping a tear from her eye from laughing too hard. He frowned a little at her and she did her best to stop. "I'm not mad" she smiled "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to make you mad"

"Look" he said "I took you from your home so now I'm responsible for you. I'll protect you. But if you leave, I can't stop my friends from doing anything from you" he said, serious again. She gulped.

"I promise I won't run away" she swore.

"Then I promise to protect you" he smiled "If anyone touches you, you call for me immediately and I'll come for you" his eye turned hard. She nodded. They stared at each other in silence for a minute.

"NATSU! You're back!" Happy shouted in delight "Let's go fishing!" he said excitedly. Natsu broke their eye contact to look at his cat.

"Sure, Buddy!" he smiled.

"Can Lucy come?" he chimed, flying over to Lucy and sitting on her shoulder.

"If she wants to" Natsu shrugged.

"Sure, I'll come!" Lucy smiled at them both.

"Yay!" Happy cheered.

"Alright!" Natsu joined in.

"Let's go!" Happy said, racing out of the tent.

Natsu look as if he was about to chase the cat but stopped and looked back at Lucy. He offered his hand out to her.

"Come on!" he smiled. She took his hand and got dragged out of the tent, only getting a glance of the camp outside it before she was dragged off into the forest around the camp towards a river.

* * *

Natsu relished the feeling of her small, soft hand in his. So much so that he visibly frowned when they got to the river and he had to let go.

Happy was always perched by the river with one of the fishing rods the had hidden nearby. Behind the cat was the other fishing rod and a box of bait.

The rods were simple, just a piece of string tied to the end of a long stick, but the got the job done. Sometimes Natsu would get impatient, sharpen the end of a stick and stab at the fish instead, but today he felt like relaxing with a rod.

Lucy sat between them as he picked up his rod and cast a line into the river.

"Fishy, fishy, fishy!" Happy sung, trying to will his fish to take the bait.

Natsu was get distracted. Lucy was sitting close enough that when she laughed at Happy's little song their arms brushed, making him shiver. He gritted his teeth and had a completely unimpressed face.

By the time he noticed he had a bite and pulled his rod up, the fish was gone and so was the bait. He groaned in frustration as he had to put some more bait on the hook. Lucy had noticed as he cast a line again.

"You're not very good at this!" she laughed, annoying him a little.

"Only cause you're distracting me, stupid!" he growled and frowned at the river, not looking at her.

"Hey!" she complained "How am I distracting you?" she asked.

"Eugh" he said and turned to her, gritting his teeth "Because you're bein' a weirdo and distacting me, stupid" he explained and then turned back to the river, staring hard enough to will a fish to bite.

"Don't call me stupid, IDIOT!" she shouted.

"Natsu's right!" Happy said "Lucy's too loud, she'd scaring all the yummy fish away!" Lucy did not look happy with his friend.

"I thought we were friends, stupid cat!" she snapped and pulled at his cheeks.

"Natsuuuu!" Happy cried "Lucy's being mean! She won't let me get a yummy fish to eat!" Lucy growled at him and huffed, crossing her arms.

Natsu sighed in annoyance, pulled his rod to take the line out of the water and stood up, now bored of the not-so-relaxing fishing. He stomped over to Lucy looking less than impressed, she flinched a little and looked a bit guilty.

"Let's go" he said, grabbing her hand again, almost sighing for the way it immediately relaxed him.

"Why?" Lucy asked.

"Because Happy wants a fish and he's not going to get one if we distract him" he said, annoyed that she didn't get it. It was pretty simple. "You going to be okay on your own, Buddy?" he asked Happy.

"Aye, Sir!" Happy said in delight and went back to fishing as Natsu dragged them back to the camp.

* * *

Lucy couldn't help but blush when Natsu had grabbed her hand again. She couldn't deny that she liked the feeling of his big, rough hands clasping hers. He was really warm and it was really relaxing.

Lucy noticed that they weren't going back to his tent. Instead he had pulled her into the camp, obviously heading for a destination unknown to Lucy.

She looked around as he dragged her across the camp. It looked a lot like the home she had left behind, but on a much grander scale. While her tribe had been rich, it had been small, so Lucy was amazed by the size of Fairy Tail's campsite.

She saw flashes of a few familiar faces as they walked by. She saw Gray with a pretty blue-haired girl, he looked uncomfortable but had a smile on his face. She saw Erza sitting at a table with a piece of cake. She also noticed Gajeel following a pretty blue-haired girl in an orange dress around with his arms crossed. If he had remembered her from his time in _Phantom Lord_ he didn't say.

Before she knew it, they had reached their destination, or so she assumed when they stopped in front of a tent. Her suspicions were soon confirmed when she got dragged inside behind Natsu.

"Hey! Wend!" he shouted into the seemingly empty tent "I bought my friend!" he added.

After a few minutes, Lucy saw a small, dark blue-haired girl appear from behind a mountain of fabric. She was very pretty, she had her hair in twin ponytails and wore a beautiful patterned dress.

"Hello!" Wendy smiled "I'm Wendy!" she said, extending her hand. Lucy quickly warmed to her, shaking her hand and returning her smile.

"I'm Lucy! Nice to meet you, Wendy!" she said, in a good mood. It was nice to meet another girl after spending so long with Natsu.

Think of Natsu, Lucy looked down and realised their hands were still intertwined. She pulled away, not because it was uncomfortable but more because she thought it was the right thing to do. Besides, she didn't want Wendy to get the wrong idea.

"Shall we measure you then?" Wendy chimed and grabbed Lucy's hand, pulling her away from Natsu towards her massive fabric pile. She frowned, looking back at Natsu who was looking smug and waving. She wondered what he was up to.

"Why am I getting measured?" Lucy asked when Wendy finished dragging her out of Natsu's line of sight and had grabbed a measuring tape. Wendy stopped and blushed.

"Oh, sorry!" she said, flustered "Did Natsu not tell you he wanted me to make you some new clothes?" she said worriedly.

"Oh!" Lucy said. She'd have to thank Natsu later for his thoughtfulness. "Thank you, Wendy! And no need to apologise, it was Natsu's fault, not yours" she smiled to relax the girl and it worked.

"Okay" Wendy sung with a new enthusiasm and got to work measuring Lucy.

She was done in about ten minutes. She showed Lucy a few pieces of fabric and they picked out their favourites together. Lucy had quickly been enamoured with the girl and promised she would visit her again.

Wendy led Lucy back to Natsu. They both waved goodbye and left the girl's tent to go back to their own.

As worried as Lucy was about being captured by a rival tribe, she had to admit it was feeling more and more like home every second. She smiled to herself as Natsu once again took her hand and led her through the sea of tents in the camp.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I'm most likely going to update on Mondays now (as I have stated in my other fic) which is turning out to be the best day for me, if I don't update on time I will be posting as soon as my stuff gets finished so don't worry if its not always on schedule!**

 **I have been asked by a few people about Lisanna! Just to clear everything up: I do not in anyway actually intend on making her a bitch. I am Nalu crazy and I actually like Lisanna, I mean she's not my favourite character but there is nothing to hate about her. I intend to make her a bit wary of Lucy seeing as she's new and close to Natsu. She's basically just a little worried for him because she doesn't know much about Lucy. ^-^**

 **Also, for _.3_ this is what I had in mind for the tents: ** .

 **Thanks for all the favourites/follows/reviews! It always makes my day to have people who actually want to read my stuff and leave lovely reviews!**

 **Enjoy! Sorry for the long note!**

* * *

 **Chapter Four**

Lucy's stomach growled loudly and she remembered she hadn't had breakfast. Natsu stopped leading her to the tent and turned around to look at her.

"Sorry, I'm really hungry" she apologised, looking at her stomach as if to tell it off.

"Nah, it's okay. I'm kinda hungry too! I completely forgot about food!" he scratched the back of his head with his spare hand and laughed awkwardly. "Let's go get some food!" he declared, dragging her in a different direction, towards one of the larger tents.

Lucy felt apprehensive at the idea of meeting all the people inside. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to see them as enemies or friends. Natsu had said that he would protect her though, and that made her feel a little less uneasy.

Inside the tent it was very rowdy. Natsu had quickly dropped her hand and left her side to join Gray in a brawl. Lucy's stomach dropped and she felt the nerves she had been suppressing surface.

She looked over the inside of the tent. It was a large, circular tent, unlike the double cone-like ones that were lived in. Tucked away to the left was a long, large wooden table which seemed to be the centre for cooking and handing out food and beverages. She had never seen anything quiet so elaborate and well organised.

"Hey there! Are you new?" Lucy heard a woman speak and turned around to see a gorgeous woman with silky silver hair and beautiful sapphire eyes. She reminded Lucy a lot of the girl she had seen walking with Natsu and the others when she was first captured

Lucy smiled nervously and nodded. Should she say she was Natsu's prisoner or should she just say nothing?

"You look hungry. Can I get you something to eat?" the woman asked and Lucy's stomach quickly agreed. "Oh my!" the woman laughed and led Lucy to a counter. She found a plate and piled it with food before handing it to Lucy.

"Thank you!" Lucy said before grabbing a fork and digging in. The food was wonderful. "This is amazing!" she said after swallowing her first bite.

"Well Mirajane is the best cook around!" Lucy heard Natsu say. He had come up behind her and swung an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey there, Natsu! You want some too?" Mirajane asked.

"Hell yeah!" he cheered and sat down next to Lucy.

Once Natsu had tucked in and Lucy had finished her food, Mirajane decided it was a good time to talk.

"So, what's your name friend of Natsu's?" she asked and gave a warming smile.

"I'm Lucy" she smiled, extending her hand, they shook and Lucy felt a little awkward once the introduction was over.

"Well, as you heard, I'm Mirajane, but you can just call me Mira!" Lucy nodded "So where are you from?" Mira asked. Lucy frowned a little. Natsu growled and Mira seemed to drop the question.

Apparently Natsu had finished his food and did not appreciate questions about how she came to be at the camp.

"Does it matter?" He asked "She's under my protection now and that's what matters" Natsu seemed to be in a bad mood. He stalked off again, picking another fight with some other men in the tent.

"I'm from the Heartfilia tribe" Lucy said to Mira, who seemed surprised. She needed to tell someone. "Natsu rescued me from the leader of Phantom Lord. He was going to rape me. Natsu saved me and brought me back here" Lucy explained and Mira nodded.

"I'm sorry" Mira said "Aren't you going to go home?" Mira asked.

"I don't think Natsu will let me" Lucy said honestly, which seemed to surprise Mira again. "I'm not sure I want to" Lucy added unsure of how true that actually was, she said it more to not to make Natsu look bad. He had saved her after all.

"Do you mind me asking why Phantom Lord was attacking your tribe?" Mira asked. Lucy shook her head, she felt like opening up.

"Jude Heartfilia, the leader of the tribe made a deal with them for protection but it went south and they ended up trying to take what they wanted from the tribe" Mira winced.

"That sounds horrible" she said.

"Yeah" Lucy agreed. Then she decided to be completely honest. "Actually there was a reason they attacked me specifically" Lucy swallowed as Mira listened intently, not hiding her interest. "I'm Lucy Heartfilia. The only daughter to Jude Heartfilia. I was in line to inherit my whole tribes wealth. I guess I'm kind of like a princess!" Lucy laughed bitterly.

"Oh my!" Mira exclaimed and then after a minute she started laughing. Lucy frowned.

"What's so funny?" Lucy asked.

"It's just like the stories" Mira giggled "The dragon capturing the princess" she sighed and Lucy blushed. "So romantic!" Mira squealed making Lucy blush even harder.

"Don't worry" Mira said "What you told me will stay between us. I have a feeling you don't want to tell him you're a princess yet" Mira winked.

Their conversation had finished just in time for Natsu to rejoin them.

"What were you talking about?" he asked.

"Just girl talk" Mira smiled and successfully made him disinterested.

"Let's go, Luce! Gotta see if Happy is back yet!" he said, grabbing Lucy's hand and pulling her away. She turned back to smile at Mira and got a smile and a wink in return.

"Come back!" Mira shouted and waved at her, just as Lucy was pulled out of the tent.

* * *

Natsu didn't know why, but he wanted Lucy all to himself. He didn't mind her talking to other people for a few minutes, but after that he became agitated.

He had heard the men in the tent making crude comments about her as he was eating his lunch and he had beaten most of them up before dragging Lucy back out. He wanted to be alone with her again. Or at least with just her and Happy.

That and he wanted another excuse to hold her hand. She had yet to resist him so he had yet to give it up.

When they arrived at the tent they found Happy was already back, munching on a fish. Obviously he had been successful after they had left. Natsu inwardly praised himself. That meant Happy would fish on his own more and that meant more alone time with Lucy. He couldn't help the stupid grin that spread across his face.

"Lushy!" Happy said through a full mouth, slurring her name a little. He ran over to her and presented a fish identical to the one in his mouth. "Look what I caught!" he said excitedly as he finished the food in his mouth. Lucy smiled at the adorable scene.

"Wow, Happy! You're pretty good at that!" She praised him and patted his head. Happy gave her a big smile before he ran back to his bed to finish his second fish. Bed. That reminded him.

"Hey, Luce" he said and she turned around to look at him "About that second bed…" she nodded "Well I asked Wendy but she said it would take a few days cause we don't have the furs at the moment"

"Oh" Lucy said simply, she seemed to have forgotten about their sleeping arrangements completely."So what are we doing tonight?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Same as last night" he yawned "I would offer you Happy's but it's not really human sized" she smiled at the effort.

* * *

Lucy had spent the rest of the day being shown around the camp by Natsu. They didn't talk to many people but Lucy was able to get a rough layout of the camp.

After that, they had gone back to Mira for dinner. Natsu had asked her if she wanted to sit with his friends but she declined, feeling too tired to make good conversation. Instead they sat at the bar and ate quietly together. As quietly as Natsu could eat. Lucy had quickly noticed he was a complete slob, throwing food everywhere as he ate.

Once Lucy was done she laid her head on the bar and waited for Natsu to finish his meal. She was feeling really tired after being dragged around all day by Natsu and was looking forward to curling up in her bed. The only problem was her bed was also Natsu's bed. She sighed and slumped further in her seat.

"You tired, Luce?" he asked, he had finished his meal and was now stood up and ready to go. She rose up herself and turned to him as she hopped off the bar stool.

"Yeah" she yawned, too tired to give a more detailed response. He smiled at her and grabbed her hand again - something which Lucy had noticed he had been doing a lot today, not that she minded - and lead her back to his tent.

Lucy collapsed on the make-shift bed as soon as they got inside and heard Natsu chuckle.

"Come on, Lucy! At least get under the covers!" she groaned as she did what he said but he still looked unhappy "Give me some room!" he pouted and she shuffled across just enough so he could slide in next to her. He quickly stripped off to his underwear and did just that.

She laid on her back and closed her eyes, ready for sleep.

"Goodnight, Natsu" she whispered.

"Night, Lucy" he yawned in response and she soon found herself fast asleep.

* * *

Natsu couldn't sleep. Despite the soft snores from his cat and the soothing breaths from his bed partner, he couldn't feel more awake.

He was acutely aware of the little space Lucy had left for him. That was because he had to be pressed up right next to her to fit under the covers. He groaned quietly. She was really driving him insane. First he couldn't stop thinking about her all day and now that she was here, practically alone and for his taking, he felt worse than he did before.

He shifted onto his side and watched her sleeping form. He wasn't stupid enough not to notice how beautiful she was. He knew that the second he saw her. But he still didn't understand what she was doing to him. Sure she was gorgeous, but he had seen plenty of gorgeous women in his life and _none of them_ had this effect on him.

His eyes trailed down from her closed eyes, to her pink, plump lips that were slightly parted. He swallowed thickly. Man he felt like a pervert. He moved his eyes further down to try and stop his perverted thoughts but they only worsened when they rested on her large breasts. He was hypnotised, watching them rise and fall with every breath. He gritted his teeth as he felt a fire start in his crotch and nearly groaned aloud. She looked so tempting.

No. He wasn't a pervert like Gray. He rolled onto his back to try and get away from her desirable body but he groaned when he saw the obvious tenting in the sheet. God, what was she doing to him?

He decided to lay on his side again, facing her, so that his little problem wasn't so obvious. He manoeuvred himself so she wouldn't wake up in the morning and find his excitement poking her in the thigh.

He decided to let his eyes rest on her neck, the least sexy thing he could see above the covers. It helped at first. It was just a neck right? Everyone had one. But then he thought of biting it. How her skin would taste. How soft it would be. How he would love to mark her flesh and make sure everyone knew who she belonged to.

He shut his eye forcibly. He had to sleep. He couldn't go sleep deprived for the next few days just because he was sleeping next to her. Lucy. A goddess in disguise. He frowned, keeping his eyes closed as he tried to think of anything but her.

He heard Happy purring in the background and decided to focus on that. It started to calm him considerably. Soon enough he was lulled to sleep, with the knowledge that he would definitely see the girl lying next to him in his dreams.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Early post! Enjoy! :)**

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

Lucy woke up alone in the bed. In fact, she woke up alone in the tent. She got up, looking around to find that not only Natsu had disappeared, but Happy had too. She frowned, wondering where they could have got to.

She wasn't yet comfortable in the new camp. That and she was a hostage. To a man she wasn't sure if she liked or was afraid of.

Lucy got up, her frown deepening as she looked at the same grimy dress she had been wearing for the past few days. She craved a bath and clean clothes. She sighed, letting her frown ease, looking around the tent again, frustrated at the empty beds.

The tent flap opened just as she was debating whether to have a hissy fit. She decided against it as she found Mira peering in at her, a sweet smile on her face.

"Morning" Mira said, cheerfully. She watched Lucy's confused expression with curiosity. "He didn't tell you he was leaving, did he?" she asked, fully stepping into the tent to put her hands on her hips. Lucy shook her head. Mira sighed. "That boy…" she rolled her eyes. "A group has gone off hunting today, Natsu's with them. They left pretty early if you're wondering why you woke up alone" Mira giggled, giving a wink as she was talking about sleeping arrangements.

"Oh" was all Lucy managed to say, not wanting to give fuel to the fire that was Mira.

"Don't worry" Mira gave a sly smile, assuming Lucy's lack of speech was due to missing Natsu. "They'll be back late this evening. They haven't travelled too far away from camp seeing as it's still summer" Lucy nodded.

"So what do I do today then?" Lucy asked, frowning. "I mean I'm supposed to be Natsu's hostage or whatever, so where does that leave me if he's gone?" she wasn't sure if the questions she was asking were directed to Mira or herself.

"Well, I guess you'll just have to be my hostage for the day then" Mira laughed. Lucy wasn't sure if she was joking or serious. She seemed to have a dark side that didn't exactly fill Lucy with optimism.

"Okay" Lucy replied, not wanting to wake a sleeping lion. Mira nodded and smiled, gesturing her to follow her out of the tent. Lucy did as she was told.

Mira had led her to a very familiar tent and pushed her inside, following close behind her.

As soon as Lucy caught sight of Wendy's face she relaxed.

"Lucy!" Wendy squeaked, running over to greet her with a hug.

"Hi, Wendy" she said softly, smiling down at the cute bluenette below her.

Wendy let go, an excited look on her face, as she dashed behind the huge pile of materials that divided part of her tent, returning seconds later with an armful of beautiful dresses.

"Wendy! They're beautiful!" Lucy gasped as she got handed them.

She looked through each one of them carefully. A number of the dressed were in a tent-like style, matching the peacock coloured one that Wendy was wearing. One was a short, white wrap-around dress with a tie, a lot like a robe, that Lucy assumed was sleepwear. The one that stood out most to Lucy was a short blue and white dress, it was in the same style as Wendy's dress but had a brown belt attached to it so it would show off her small waist, an all blue bottom and a white and blue top. She immediately fell in love with it.

"I'm glad you like them" Wendy beamed.

"I love them!" Lucy exclaimed. Jumping around in glee until she looked down at her grubby body. She sighed, not wanting to ruin Wendy's beautiful clothes with her dirty body.

Mira seemed to catch onto her thinking, because she dragged Lucy out of Wendy's tent faster than they could say goodbye. Mira led her out of the camp, through the forest into a clearing where Lucy saw the most beautiful waterfall. She gasped, Mira had a proud smile on.

"You can wash here without worrying about anyone looking at you" she smiled. "I'll be back in half an hour to get you, but for now, just relax and clean up" Lucy nodded and with that, Mira disappeared back into the thick forest.

Lucy almost screamed with delight. She quickly shed her gross dress and slipped into the surprisingly warm water.

Lucy had just tied the soft leather belt around her dress when Mira re-emerged. Lucy had a wide smile plastered on her face as she picked up the rest of the dresses and let Mira lead her back to camp. She made a note of the route so she could return the next day.

"You can come here whenever you want" Mira smiled, noticing the good mood Lucy was in. "Hardly anyone here knows about it, mostly girls. The men use the main river so this one is usually empty" Lucy nodded, reaffirming her choice to come back to the waterfall as many times as she could get away with it under Natsu's watch.

Before they knew it, they were outside Natsu's tent. Lucy dropped off the dresses, noting, with some trepidation, that she couldn't see a clothes pile for Natsu anywhere. She shook off the bad though when she heard her stomach growl. Mira laughed.

"I think I know where our next destination is!" she mused, dragging Lucy to the food tent. Did she need to be dragged everywhere?

Despite her reluctance of being dragged around like a rag-doll, Lucy was definitely pleased to see the meal that Mira had prepared for her, quickly saying her thanks before digging in.

"Hey, Mira! I'm starved! Could I get something to eat?" she heard an unfamiliar voice ask.

Lucy put down her cutlery to face the new voice. She saw a pretty girl with light blue hair and wide, inquisitive eyes.

"Sure, Levy!" Mira chimed. "You can chat with my friend Lucy here while I'm gone" Mira winked in Lucy's direction and left to make Levy her food.

Lucy turned to Levy, unsure what to expect. Levy had a brilliant smile on her face.

"Hi! I'm Levy, it's nice to meet you, Lucy! I haven't seen you round here before. Are you new?" the words flew out of her mouth at a rate Lucy was finding hard to keep up with.

"It's nice to meet you too, Levy. I am new, I guess…" Lucy said and frowned. Was she even part of their tribe? Technically she was more of a hostage. An enemy.

She found her reasoning only made her feel worse.

"What do you mean 'I guess'?" Levy asked.

"Well, umm, Natsu just kind of brought me here…" she explained. Levy's eyes lit up.

"AH! So you're _that girl_!" she gasped. "Sorry for all the questions. Gajeel says I talk too much! I guess all that reading just gets to my head and I have to know more!" she laughed.

"You like reading too?" Lucy asked, her heart leaping at the chance to make a new friend.

"YES!" Levy squealed, taking Lucy's hand in hers. "It's so amazing to find another person who actually appreciates books!"

"I definitely agree with that!" Lucy said and they laughed together. Levy gave her another huge smile.

"I can tell we're going to be good friends, Lu!" Lucy nodded, her heart swelling at her newly found kinship.

"I see you two are getting along!" Mira intervened, handing Levy her food.

"Definitely!" Levy assured her. "Mind if I sit and eat with you, Lu? I get kind of bored when the boys are off hunting" Lucy quickly nodded her head before they both got to eating their food.

"So who goes away on these hunting trips?" Lucy asked, trying to be casual.

"Umm, Gajeel, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Laxus, Elfman and Loke are the regulars and then sometime others tag along to" Levy explained. "Today my friends Jet and Droy tagged along too. Oh and Lily - Gajeel's cat - and Happy - who I'm sure you've met - go along too!" Lucy nodded, interested in what these hunting trips entailed. She wasn't allowed out much under her father's rule. She imagined it would be the same under Natsu.

"Interesting" Lucy commented.

"So what do you want to do today, Lu?" Levy asked, finishing her meal.

"I'm supposed to be under Mira's watch" Lucy explained, frowning at the missed opportunity.

"Mira! Can I take Lucy out? I mean otherwise she's just going to be stuck here watching you all day!" Levy said sweetly.

"Sure, Levy. Just make sure you get back before dark!" Mira warned and Levy nodded.

"Don't worry, Mira. We won't go too far!" Levy said joyously, gesturing to Lucy to follow her.

* * *

Lucy gasped. She had been taken to the most beautiful grove. Flowers of a lush pink, a colour surprisingly similar to Natsu's hair, covered the ground, only stopping at the tree line that led back to the camp.

"Wow! It's so beautiful here, Levy!" she exclaimed, twirling around in the flowers like a princess. Levy laughed.

"I thought you might like it here! I come here to read when I want to be left alone" she said, smiling at the amazing scenery.

"This would be a great place to write" Lucy said to herself, besotted with the sight.

"You write?" Levy asked excitedly.

"Umm, yeah...I'm not that good though" Lucy said nervously, twirling a lock of her blonde hair in her finger which she had picked out subconsciously.

"I bet your amazing!" Levy winked. "You have to let me read you work some day!" Levy squealed.

"I would" Lucy said, trying to avoid the answer. "But all my things are back at home…" Lucy said, a wave of sadness suddenly hitting her.

"It's not far back to camp!" Levy said, smiling. When Lucy didn't return the smile she realised what she had really meant. "Oh, sorry, Lu."

"It's okay. I'll just write a new book" Lucy said, determinedly.

"That's the spirit, Lu!" Levy said, pumping her fist in the air.

* * *

They spent the rest of the day roaming around the grounds that lay outside of the camp, going back for lunch in between. They had talked about practically everything, and Lucy finally felt, with Levy by her side, that she could maybe start to call the tribe home.

She said goodbye to Levy at her tent opening, walking in with a renewed energy, despite how tired she was feeling.

She walked over to the pile of clothes that Wendy had made for her, drawing out the white night dress and quickly changing into her new attire.

By the time Lucy settled into bed, right after changing and spending a few minutes excitedly refreshing her memories of the day, Natsu and Happy were still nowhere to be seen. She shrugged to herself, slipping further into the warm, snug covers, before falling into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

By the time Natsu had got back to camp in was pitch black. He wandered back to his tent, leaving the others to deal with that day's finds.

As soon as he entered his tent, Happy by his side, he was met by the soft, soothing breaths of a sleeping Lucy. He sighed, relaxing his aching muscles and dumping his bags down on the floor. His first instinct was to dive into bed next to her and move as close as he could next to her until every part of their bodies were touching. He groaned. God he wanted that so bad. But he was dirty, and sweaty and he smelled. He was sure Lucy would not appreciate that.

"I'm gonna have a bath, Haps" he said to his furry, blue friend.

"Okay, Natsu" he smiled.

"Don't wait up, buddy. I might be a while" Happy nodded and proceeded to crawl into his own bed.

He stipped down to his boxers, making sure to grab a clean pair from his bags, and walked outside making a beeline for the river.

As soon as it was in sight, he pulled off his boxers and dived in, warming the water up around him. There was nothing worse than a cold bath.

He wondered what Lucy looked like taking a bath…

Maybe a cold bath was good for him once in awhile.

"What are you doing here, dumbass?" Natsu heard Gray moan as he washed the himself. He turned around to see his friend, an unimpressed look on his face.

"I wanna clean myself. Somethin' wrong with that?" he asked.

"You? Washing?" Gray scoffed. Natsu bared his teeth.

"Maybe I got somethin' to clean for!" Natsu snapped as he continued to clean himself.

"Ahh" Gray said "You still got that hot blonde chick in your bed?" he snickered, which only served to anger Natsu more.

"Don't talk about Lucy like a perv!" he growled.

"It's not like you aren't tempted" Gray pressed.

"I aint! Leave her out of this!"

"Defensive!" Gray laughed.

"It aint like you don't have a thing for that weird water chick that's always coming down the river to cry about your stupid brother!" Natsu snapped, feeling the urge to fight bubbling within him. He just needed to piss off Gray enough to start a fight…

"Fuck off, Natsu!" Gray shouted.

Just like that, they had started a fight that lasted half an hour. In the end, they were both clean and called it a draw. The urge to go back to his tent was compelling enough that he was willing to go even with his rival. He had it bad.

He stepped out of the water, drying himself off with his body heat before grabbing his fresh boxers and quickly jumping into them. He scooped up his dirty ones and quickly made his way back to the tent, throwing his dirty boxers on a pile with his other discarded clothes.

He looked at Lucy, who had shifted in the bed since he last saw her. He gulped as he fought the urge to wake her up and slowly undress her.

He walked slowly, and cautiously over to the bed.

He lifted the covers a little so that he could crawl in, but as soon as he saw her new night dress he decided to pull them back completely.

Shit.

She was it a curve-hugging, short, white dress that made her look ethereal. She was lying on her side, away from him, not stirring from the removal of the cover.

His eyes travelled over her form, her blonde hair pooled around her, the rises and dips of her insatiable curves and then there was her ass. Her barely covered, plump, creamy ass that was just asking to bit bitten.

He licked his lips, moving closer. Just one bite. Just one bite was all he needed.

He stopped himself, jaw open and fangs out, just an inch before her ass. He quickly closed his mouth and moved away. Cursing his tired brain for not stopping himself earlier.

How was he supposed to sleep like that? It was worse than the night before.

He threw the covers bad over her sleeping form for his own sanity, gently slipping underneath them. He laid on his back, his head in a constant battle with his hands.

He wanted to touch her so bad. There was only so much sexual torment a man could go through before he snapped.

He turned around to face her. He sighed softly, watching her blonde hair move from his breath. He smiled, gently pulling her hair away from her face and neck. It was supposed to be a caring gesture, but ended up adding fuel to the fire as he uncovered the soft skin of her neck, his fingers brushing gently against it.

Before he knew it he had buried his head in the crook between her neck and her shoulder, brushing the skin against his lips, breathing in her sweet smell.

If he thought it was hard to resist just looking at her he was wrong. It was nearly _impossible_ to stop when he smelled her. She just smelt so good.

He heard her breathe in sharply and stopped, seeing if he had woken up.

It took him a minuted before he was convinced she was still asleep. After he was sure, he went back to running her smooth skin against his lips.

He stopped, only to pull his lips apart and press his teeth against her bare neck, scraping his teeth against it gently.

He stopped again to part his teeth. Just one taste and…

Just one taste and what? He paused.

He knew he wouldn't be satisfied with just one taste. He _knew_ he would need more.

He pulled away from her and slammed his mouth shut a familiar fire in his groin protesting the fact that he stopped. He shuffled as far away as he could from her without escaping the covers - which was not very far - and closed his eyes.

He groaned. It was going to be another night dreaming about her. This time he didn't have the luxury of leaving the tent before she woke up so she wouldn't notice his raging hard on.

He opened his eyes for one last view of her before he closed them again to meet her in his dreams.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the fiiler-ness of this chapter!**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading! I decided to post early this week as I actually had it done ahead of schedule! Hope you enjoyed ^-^ thanks to everyone for all the favourites/follows/reviews :) I shall do my best to continue to post on time/early! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Lucy woke up in the morning to find that Natsu had joined her in bed when she was asleep. She craned her neck to look over at Happy's bed to see that he was with them as well. She sighed.

She found it strange that she had been slightly worried when he wasn't back when she fell asleep.

He was supposed to be the bad guy, technically. She couldn't help but feel like he had freed her more than captured her though.

He had saved her from Phantom Lord. He had taken her away from the immense pressure of being the Heartfilia heir. He had taken her away from the chance of being married off for money.

She sat up and looked over at the sleeping man. She couldn't help but smile when she saw the adorable look on his face, a small amount of drool making its way to the sheets. His pink hair was plastered to his face and the low covers showed off his well-defined muscles.

She found a hard time convincing herself to look away.

Maybe she was crazy, but she felt an undeniable connection to him.

He had kidnapped her and threatened her. But he hadn't hurt her. He didn't seem to even have any intention to. He had made sure she was dressed and well fed and he trusted her enough to leave her alone in the camp.

She laid back again, facing the roof of the tent. She groaned.

She felt a little crazy.

She just needed air.

She pushed herself out of the bed and walked over to the pile of clothes Wendy had made her. She pulled out the same outfit as the day before, secretly wanting Natsu's opinion on her new dress.

She poked her head out of the tent to see no one around. It must have been too early.

She grabbed a piece of fabric she could use as a makeshift towel - something she had made a note of asking Levy about before they had headed off for bed yesterday - and headed out to the waterfall that Mira had shown her.

* * *

Natsu woke up alone and immediately panicked.

He was, at first, convinced that he had scared off Lucy by muttering something in his sleep. He had had a _very_ realistic dream about her. He groaned just thinking about it.

Maybe he was insane. Because he was pretty sure that he was starting to feel something for her that he had never felt with any other girl.

She drove him completely crazy. He was pretty sure it was because she was a weirdo. But he also had a horrible feeling it had something to do with all of those explicit dreams he had about her.

It might be both.

He sighed and got up, yawning and stretching while he looked over at Happy's bed. The little blue cat was still sleeping soundly. Natsu was pretty sure that Happy would sleep through anything unless there was fish involved.

He smiled at his friend and decided to let him be.

He was debating what to do because he was too awake to go back to sleep, but he was also too sleepy to do anything productive.

It was pretty early, he could hear everyone else in the camp sleeping.

He frowned, trying to think of something he could do that would help him wake up.

He almost hit himself when he realised this might just be one of those times a bath could _actually_ be useful. And he could have it all to himself. He was sure Lucy would be back by the time he got back.

He wasn't exactly sure where she had gone, but he could smell that she was close, so he didn't really care. He shrugged and grabbed his clothes before heading out of the camp.

He decided to find his secret bathing place, seeing as he had more time, rather than risk another bath with the icy bastard like yesterday.

He made his way through the trees until he found the waterfall. It looked beautiful, as always, but it had a wonderful smell today which Natsu was instantly drawn to. He wasn't sure where it was coming from, but he quickly discarded his boxers to dive into the welcoming water.

He dunked his head under the water, breathing heavily when he came up for air and shaking his head so that the water on his hair wouldn't get into his eyes.

He looked around, trying to find the source of the amazing smell that was permeating his nose. He pushed his fringe out of his eyes, running his hands through his hair when he finally noticed the figure that stood at the other side of the pool.

At first he thought he might be hallucinating, or that the figure was in fact an angel, sent from heaven, for him to ogle because _damn_ she had a great body. But no.

As he moved closer, ducking his head lower under the water so only his eyes and nose were above the water level, he was able to make out her face - and just about everything else. It was Lucy.

It was Lucy and she was looking towards where he was hiding, noticing a puff of obvious pink hair sticking out from the waterline. Crap! What was he going to do? He was having a hard enough time as it was, trying to concentrate, and not get a nosebleed, when she was fully exposed in front of him.

He quickly stood up in the water, pretending not to have seen her, and ran his hands through his hair in stress, hoping it would come off as a relaxed and unbothered action. He looked anywhere but Lucy, pretending he couldn't see her - and making sure his waist was in the water, because then she would be able to tell that he had seen her - until he heard her scream.

He snapped his head around in her direction and he watched her go deeper in the water to cover her lower half and covered her chest with her arms.

"N-Natsu?" she asked, blushing furiously. "What are you doing here?"

"I was tryin' to have a bath…" he said, hoping it sounded calm and collected.

"I thought Mira said that guys didn't use this place…" she muttered to herself, but he heard.

"Well I was the one who showed Mira this place. I don't come here often cause of all the girls but I thought it would be safe since it was so early an' all. Ah, sorry Lucy. I can just get out if you want" he said, standing up a little taller until he was only just covered by the water.

"NO!" she shouted, blushing still. He raised an eyebrow. "I mean, we're both here now so there is no point in getting out and I don't really think it's appropriate to show _everything_ to a lady…" she rambled.

"Sure, whatever" he said, secretly celebrating inside his head.

"You should just clean over the other side and I'll clean over here...just tell me when you're done and I'll turn around so you can get dressed" she said, motioning for him to move further away. Not what he wanted, but just being naked in the same water as Lucy was doing crazy things to his heart.

"Okay...you know I don't care if you see, right?" he blurted out.

"Well I do! I'm supposed to be a lady you idiot! I'll never get married if I spend my time showing men my body!" she cried in horror. He shrugged.

"You don't have to worry about all that, Luce" he said, giving her a smile.

"And why is that?" she asked sarcastically.

"Cause you can just marry me"

"I don't even know you, Natsu! Why would you want to marry me?"

"I dunno, you are a bit of a weirdo I guess…"

"Exactly! Wait. What? Shut up! Anyway, you technically _kidnapped_ me, so why do you think I would like to marry you anyway?"

"Cause you're a weirdo?"

"Stop saying that!"

"You're the one who worryin' about marriage an' stuff. I just gave you a solution and now you're shouting at me...I don't get you…"

"If I'm such an annoyance, why don't you just let me go?" she asked, sounding more than annoyed.

"NO" he growled and moved closed to her. "I already told you. I don't want you going anywhere" he said, a little threateningly, close to her face, before swimming away back to the other side.

"Natsu…" she started, he was already feeling bad but he was not in the mood to continue the conversation.

"Clean yourself. I'll see you back at the tent later" he said, not bothering to turn around and look at her.

He swiftly got out of the water, waiting for his body heat to dissipate the water on his skin, before pulling his clothes on and walking back to the camp without another word.

* * *

Lucy was really annoyed at herself. She wasn't sure if it was because she felt bad for upsetting Natsu, or if it was because she was actually starting to care for the guy that had taken her away from her home.

She knew she probably wouldn't see him for the remainder of the day which, in a way, was a good thing because Natsu seemed to have a bad temper.

She got out of the water once she was clean and dressed herself quickly. As she pulled on her clothes she became even more angry with herself. She had picked out the same outfit to show Natsu, but now he was angry with her and she wouldn't get to show it off. Great. She just had to ruin everything.

As much as she hated to admit it, she had started to look at Fairy Tail as her new home and she didn't want to mess up her one chance to start again.

She sighed as she found her way back to the tent.

She threw her clothes on a pile next to her clean ones and looked around. Natsu, as she guessed, was nowhere to be found, but Happy was still soundly sleeping in his bed.

Lucy sat down on the vacant bed and frowned. She wasn't quite sure what to do. Everyone was still asleep and she didn't know her way well enough around the camp to find one of her 'friends'. She was tempted to wake up Happy, but she didn't want to get on the bad side of Natsu _and_ his best friend.

She stood up and left the tent, heading for the beautiful flower field that Levy had shown her yesterday. Maybe it could clear her head.

She found her destination with relative ease, frowning, once again, as she looked at the pink flowers. They reminded her a lot of Nastu. She sat herself down in the middle of the field and laid back, watching the soft blue sky, almost the same colour as her dress.

Maybe she wasn't meant to be a part of Fairy Tail. Maybe she was just supposed to be the Heartfilia heir for the rest of her life and nothing else. Maybe she would never be _just_ Lucy.

A single tear worked its way down her cheek as she closed her eyes.

"You're not crying are you, weirdo?"

Her eyes snapped open at the voice as she saw Natsu standing above her, watching her face.

"N-No, you idiot!" she said, wiping the tear from her cheek and sitting up.

He walked in front of her and sat down in the flowers opposite her; his knees up and his arms resting lazily over them.

"Good. Cause I don't wanna make you cry or anythin'" he said, not meeting her gaze.

"How did you find me? I mean, this place is pretty far out…"

"Nah, this place is easy to find. I was the one who showed Levy"

"How come you know all the best places around here?" she asked curiously.

"Cause I'm a dragon. I gotta know my territory" he shrugged. As if saying her was a dragon was nothing. "Anyway, this place is the easiest to find" he explained.

"Why's that?"

"Cause it's full of flowers...they smell really strongly, they might've well as put a sign up, bein' that obvious an' all"

"That doesn't really tell me how you found me"

"It does and it doesn't" he shrugged again, this time looking her in the eye. "You're askin' the wrong questions though, weirdo" he chuckled lightly.

"And what should I be asking, Mr Know-it-all?"

"Why"

"Why what?"

"Why I found you"

"Oh yeah…"

"I told you you're a weirdo…"

"So why did you find me?"

"Cause I wanna marry you"

"WHAT?!" Lucy shouted in panic, her heart racing.

"Calm down, stupid. I mean, like, I just wanted to say that I would marry you cause I want to, not cause I saw you naked or anything" he said, scratching the back of his head.

"SO YOU DID SEE! PERVERT!"

"Hey! I thought you'd calm down after I told you I wanna marry you!"

"Stop saying you want to marry me, idiot!"

"Maybe I don't wanna stop!"

"Well then you can go marry yourself then, dumbass"

"Maybe I will! Why would I want a wife who yells at me all the time?"

"And why would I want a husband who's a _pervert_!"

"Oi! I wouldn't _be_ a pervert if you married me! And that was an _accident_ anyway!"

"Maybe I _should_ marry you; so you don't perv on other girls!"

"I said it was an accident! I didn't know you were there! Maybe I should marry _you_ so you don't annoy some other poor guy to death!"

"FINE THEN! LET'S GET MARRIED, IDIOT!"

"FINE. I'd like that!"

There was an awkward silence when both parties started to take in what had actually happened. When they both realised they simultaneously looked away from each other and blushed, not knowing what to say.

"You liiiiiike each other"

Their silence was broken by Happy, flying circles around them, snickering.

"SHUT UP!" Natsu and Lucy said in unison.

"You didn't say no!" Happy chimed, running away when Lucy started chasing him away from the field.

* * *

Natsu sighed as he was left alone, unsure as to whether he was now engaged or not. Leave it to Lucy to confuse him so much that he accidentally proposed.

It wasn't like he was against the idea of having such a pretty wife. Nor was he against the idea of sharing a bed with her _properly_. She just made his so confused. And she made his heart go all haywire.

He watched Lucy and Happy run in circles around the field and decided to lie down.

For now, he decided, he wasn't going to marry Lucy.

But maybe - if he was lucky - he would in the future.

He smiled to himself as he watched the clouds in the blue sky roll across his vision. At least she wasn't mad at him any more.

* * *

 **A/N: Man, I can't believe I got this out on time. I was super busy this week and when I did have time I, for some reason, decided that writing stuff I wont post for a while would be a better option. Silly Lizzie.**

 **Anyway! Thanks for reading! and for all the wonderful reviews I've received! I finally reached over 100 followers! Holy Mavis, that's cool!**

 **P.s. Sorry for all those that read both my stories because the apparently I can make no other jokes than marriage jokes at the moment...sorry.**

 **See ya next time! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Early chapter! Enjoy! and Ikityan: if you do, make sure you send me a link ^-^**

* * *

 **Chapter Seven**

Lucy and Nastu had walked back to the camp in a completely awkward silence. Every time one of them turned around to speak to the other, they ended up opening their mouths and nothing came out.

Lucy was pretty sure that it was the most uncomfortable thing she had experienced in her life.

The worst part was the fact that she wasn't sure if they were engaged or not. How could someone not know that?!

She was too embarrassed to actually ask what was happening, so she just decided to suffer in silence.

When they got back to camp, Natsu immediately ran away from her, knowing she wasn't yet good enough with finding her way around the camp.

"Natsu! Come back here, you coward!" she shouted to his retreating figure.

She groaned, unsure as to what she was supposed to do now. She looked around and noticed the majority of the camp were now awake, a few faces looking at her outburst. She turned red, not enamoured with the idea of telling everyone that she might actually be engaged to Natsu.

"Lucy?" Levy called, walking out from behind Gajeel.

"Oh, hey, Levy" Lucy said, with as much enthusiasm as she could muster through her cloud of confusion.

"You alright? Is Natsu angry at you or something? We all saw him storm off…"

"I don't think he's angry…" Lucy said, her brows furrowing as she second guessed herself.

"What was that about then? And why were you guys up so early?"

"Umm...I'm not really sure. I'm pretty confused. We both got up early and had a bath and then we had a fight" Levy nodded, taking in all of the information. "Then I went to that flower field you showed me yesterday, then he was like 'I wanna marry you'" Levy gasped, her eyes wide. "And then we got in another fight. And I don't know. I think, that I might just be engaged to him but I'm not sure. And then Happy came and made a rude comment and I chased after him and then we walked back in silence and then he ran away…So I'm not really sure…"

"So, wait. You think you might be engaged to Natsu but you're not sure, how is that?"

"Well we just kind of said it when we were angry…"

"So you're not sure if you guys meant it or not"

"Yeah…."

"So did you mean it?"

"I don't know"

"Did he mean it?"

"I don't know"

"And he won't talk to you now?"

"Yep"

"And he just left you alone"

"Yep"

"And you're still sharing a tent and a bed"

"Crap"

"Well at least you had an exciting morning?"

"This is the worst day of my life…"

"Is that because you might be engaged or because you might not?"

"I don't know!" Lucy groaned, feeling like curling up in a ball and sleeping forever.

Levy ran over to her to give her a big hug.

"Oh, Lu! Don't let it get to you! You can just ignore all that and hangout with me and the girls today!" she assured her.

"Really?"

"Of course!"

"Thanks, Levy. You're the best!" she claimed jumping on the bluenette for a big hug.

"Just wait here, Lucy! I'll come and get you in a minute! I want to get all of the girls together so we can do something nice!"

"Okay…"

"GAJEEL! Look after Lucy!" Levy shouted, dashing away into the busy camp, leaving Lucy and a grunting Gajeel, alone.

They stood together in silence. Lucy squirmed under Gajeel's intense gaze. He seemed to be assessing her, seeing if she would break under his glare. She refused to budge, not wanting to seem weak to someone who was not only in Fairy Tail - a guild that had technically kidnapped her - but also used to be in Phantom Lord, to be fair to Gajeel, he left before everything bad went down. Lucy wasn't even sure he remembered her.

"I know you remember me, bunny girl" he said, looking directly at her. Bunny girl? Oh god. Please say he didn't see _that_. Lucy blushed. "Look" he said, crossing his arms. "I aint the same guy I was in Phantom Lord. I aint gonna hurt you. Nobody here will. We're a family and we take care of our own. It don't matter if you got taken by that stupid Salamander or not; you're family now"

"Thanks" Lucy stated simply, not knowing what else to say.

"I'm gonna tell you somethin' that Salamander definitely wont appreciate me tellin' ya. But it's gotta be said" he warned. Lucy nodded, assuming 'Salamander' was Natsu. "By now I'm sure you've been told by someone that he's half-dragon. Well, that kinda comes at a price"

"What do you mean?"

"Jus' listen, Bunny girl" Lucy stayed quiet. "I aint supposed to tell you this either, but I trust you. Don't ask me why but I just do. Levy seems ta too. The reason I know so much about this crap is cause I'm half-dragon too. But I'm a Iron Dragon, unlike that dolt Natsu. Anyway, it's coming up to a full moon soon so I just want to warn you. Don't go near him then. Us half-dragons tend to give in to our instincts then and if you're not prepared, somethin' bad could happen" he said, a serious look on his face.

"What kind of bad things?" Lucy asked.

Just as Gajeel was about to reply, Levy walked back into focus. He looked at her and shut his jaw.

"Jus' be careful, Bunny Girl. Make sure you stay away" he warned, not dropping his serious look until she nodded in agreement.

As soon as Levy rejoined them, he threw on a careless smile. Levy eyed him suspiciously and looked over to Lucy in case he had done something to her.

"Has he been nice, Lu?" she asked, a little worried.

"Aw, don't you have faith in me, Shrimp?" he teased. She huffed in annoyance, still waiting for Lucy's reply.

"Don't worry Levy. Gajeel is a good guy, he was actually being really helpful" Lucy assured her.

Lucy looked over at Gajeel who gave her a short smile in thanks. Levy looked a little surprised and a lot proud. She turned to Gajeel with a wide smile and Lucy silently giggled as she noticed their strange relationship.

"Really?" she asked him.

"'Course, Shrimp. You said ta look after her" he huffed, trying not to look bothered.

Levy sighed and Lucy couldn't help but notice the dreamy look that crossed her eyes.

"You're the best, Gajeel!" she said and he gave her a cocky smile and patted her on the head.

"Don't you gotta go do your girly thing with Bunny girl?" he asked and her eyes lit up.

"Oh yeah! Sorry, Lulu! Let's go!"

Gajeel chuckled as he watched Levy furiously drag Lucy away.

* * *

Levy had dragged her into the big food tent before Lucy had even had time to realise, and had sat her down in front of a table of girls.

"Lucy! This is Mira - who you've already met -, Erza, Cana and Lisanna - Mira's sister!" she said, pointing at each of the girls one by one. Lucy recognised everyone except Cana, an enthusiastic and scantily clad brunette who winked at her.

"It's nice to meet you all" Lucy said quietly.

"It's nice to meet you to!" Erza and Cana said. Mira simply smiled and her and Lisanna stayed quiet.

"Lucy is having a bad morning, so I thought we could have a girls day to make her feel better!" Levy announced and the whole group, bar Lisanna, who was eyeing Lucy curiously, nodded.

"What a noble cause!" Erza said, seeming way more enthusiastic than Lucy thought she could be. "Perhaps a picnic! It's always been a dream of mine to have a lovely picnic with my friends" she stood up, puffing her chest out.

"Oh, Erza, that's a great idea!" Mira said. "I'll make the food!" she called, running off to the kitchen.

One down, four to go.

"I have to get my picnic basket!" Erza cried, racing out of the tent.

Two down, three to go.

"Oh, Lu! I should go get Wendy! She needs a break and she would love to go on a picnic with us!" Levy said, dashing out of the tent after Erza leaving Lucy feeling awkward.

Three down, two to go. Just a drunk and a girl who seems less than impressed with her left.

"Hey, Lucy. Do you mind if we have a talk before the others get back? Don't worry about Cana, she's too drunk to understand what anyone is saying at the moment"

Oh no. This is not what Lucy wanted.

"Um, sure" Lucy said, smiling politely. Lisanna smiled back.

"Great" she replied, moving over to sit next to Lucy before she dropped her smile and looked serious. "Look, Lucy, I don't really know you, so I'm not going to jump to any conclusions or anything, but, just so you know, I'm supposed to be the one that ends up with Natsu. So I just want to see who you are. It's obvious he likes you, so just tell me what you're plans are with him. I know you're probably a nice person, but I've known him since I was a kid and I don't want to see him get hurt" Lisanna said, sighing afterwards as if the words lifter a weight off her chest.

"Oh" Lucy said, thinking before she said any more. "I don't know exactly what I'm supposed to say but I get where you are coming from so I'll be honest. Just promise you won't tell anyone else" Lucy paused, giving time for Lisanna to nod. "Well at first I wasn't really sure about him. I mean he did save me but he also kidnapped me and threatened me. But I kind of understand him more now. He's a gentle soul but he had a bad temper and he tends to turn to anger to solve all of his problems. Truthfully, I can't help but look at his as more of a saviour than a kidnapper. I was so trapped in my old tribe and now I can finally be free. I guess I like him, but I'm not really sure beyond that. But I promise I have no plans on getting him hurt" Lucy confessed.

Lisanna seemed to take a moment to mull over what she said before giving her a smile.

"Good. I think we can be friends!" Lisanna announced. Lucy sighed and smiled, nodding in agreement.

"I would like that"

"Great!" she cheered. "Just so you know, as much as I love Natsu, it's only as a friend. I'm kinda glad that I don't have to marry him. I'd rather we both found real love. So I don't have any intentions of getting in your way" she winked at Lucy, who turned red.

"What do you mean by 'don't have to marry him'?" Lucy asked, a bad feeling in her gut.

"Oh! Don't think Levy didn't tell all of us what happened between you two this morning!" Lisanna teased.

"She didn't!" Lucy cried in embarrassment.

"Who didn't what?" Levy asked behind her, suddenly all the girls that had disappeared were back and Wendy was with them.

"You didn't tell them what happened this morning, did you?" Lucy asked in horror. Levy flinched.

"Maybe, just a little bit" Levy confessed.

"LEVY! THAT WAS PRIVATE!" Lucy scolded her.

"Sorry, Lu!"

"What happened this morning?" Wendy asked curiously from Levy's side.

"Natsu accidentally proposed to Lucy and she's no sure if they're engaged or not!" Levy squealed in excitement.

"LEVY!" Lucy roared.

"Everyone else already knows, Lu. It can't hurt telling Wendy too!" she tried it convince her.

"When you say 'everyone else' you mean just us, right?" Levy winced again and Lucy almost died of embarrassment.

"Well I told Mira...and Mira told everyone…" Levy said quietly.

"WHAT?! But if everyone else knows that means…"

"LUCY!"

Oh no. Please no. She knew that voice. It was Natsu.

"LUCY. COME HERE!" He growled from the other end of the tent. Lucy ducked her head, trying to hide from him. He was pissed. "Don't be stupid, Luce. I can smell you, idiot" he said, standing next to her. He looked over the room as the girls all giggled at him. "ARGH! LUCY! WHY WOULD YOU TELL THEM?! COME ON. WE'RE GOING TO TALK" he shouted, grabbing her arm and dragging her away from the girls.

Lucy gave them all a pleading look but they simply stayed sitting and looked amused.

Lucy's hand was dropped just as quickly as it had been picked up and she turned around to see an unconscious Natsu by her feet, Erza standing with a raised picnic basket in her fist.

"I won't let you ruin my picnic" she said to the unconscious, with a surprising amount of spite. All Lucy could do was look at Erza with an equal amount of fear and awe.

"Thanks, Erza!" Lucy said, smiling.

"Let's go on our picnic!" Erza replied sweetly.

Lucy nodded and they all left the tent quickly before Natsu woke up again. Lucy laughed as she realised the girls had made her day better already.

* * *

Natsu woke up with a pounding headache.

He was sprawled across the floor of the food tent, trying to regain back his senses so that he could chase after that pesky blonde and her squad of girls. He groaned, sitting up, making his headache slightly work. Stupid Erza and her stupid picnics.

"Was you're blonde bride a little to rough for ya?"

Natsu looked up to find Gray, shirtless, with his arms crossed, chuckling at his current predicament.

"Shut up, Ice cube" Natsu growled.

"Oooh! Someone's touchy? Got the wedding jitters?" Gray teased.

"I said shut up, stripper!"

"Why? Are you scared that if you argue with me we'll end up married?" Gray continued to get on his nerves.

"No. Cause otherwise I'm going to beat your head in"

"I'm so scared!" Gray said in mock horror.

"That's it! Erza's gone so nobody can stop me, bastard!" he shouted before he lunged at Gray, landing a heavy blow to his head.

Natsu and Gray spent the next half an hour beating the crap out of each other, until they were both out of breath and equally injured.

"ARGH! GRAY! I don't have time for your crap!" Natsu shouted at him.

"You should've thought about that _before_ we started fightin', dumbass!" Gray retorted.

"Shit! I gotta find Lucy, that traitor!" he shouted, running out of the tent and leaving Gray, bewildered but amused.

* * *

"Thanks for a lovely picnic, guys!" Lucy gushed.

The girls all gave her a big smile as they walked back to camp together.

"We should do that again! Mira's cooking is the best!" Wendy said excitedly. They all nodded in agreement as the camp came into view.

"I don't suppose anyone knows where the best place to hide from Natsu is?" Lucy asked desperately as she remembered how unimpressed he was with her earlier.

"Sorry, Lucy. He'll find you no matter how far you run with those dragon senses" Erza said.

"Somehow I knew you were going to say that" Lucy sighed. "Well I guess I should just go ahead and get it over with! I'll see you guys later if I survive this!" she joked, waving goodbye to the girls and walking back inside Natsu's tent, sitting on the bed and waiting for him to return.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you, again, for all the wonderful reviews I have received. I got really into the story and went straight into writing this chapter after finishing the last one so I thought I might as well post this as a bonus.**

 **Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Natsu made his way back to the tent unsure as to what he was supposed to say. As much as he wanted to know what she was thinking, he didn't really want to be the one to tell her that he didn't want to get married to a girl he just met. And maybe also kidnapped.

Then again, if he got married it meant that she was completely his. And that sounded _way_ too tempting. But drooling over her was not going to help with his situation.

He sighed, pushing his way into his tent reluctantly, trying to remember the last time he felt so apprehensive about his own home.

He stopped when he saw her sitting there, her wide brown eyes watching him, her pretty blonde hair falling from her head like a golden crown. Was it just him or had she gotten _more_ beautiful since he last saw her?

"Err, hey" he said, losing all of the anger he had earlier at the fact that everyone in the tribe knew.

"Hi" she said quietly.

"Look I don't know whatcha thinkin' an' all but I figure that us gettin' married aint really be somethin' you want right now...I mean you're too pretty an' all for me anyway…" he said, looking down out of embarrassment.

"Oh, okay"

"So, we're good"

"I think so. Other than the fact that you technically kidnapped me"

"Good"

"How is that good?"

"Because that's the way I like it"

"What if I don't?"

"Then go share some other guy's tent who might not be as accommodating as me"

"I think I'll pass"

"Then you aint got no reason to complain"

"Other than the fact that you took me from my home"

"If you keep complainin' then I'm gonna have to be less accommodatin' myself" he warned.

"I still don't have my own bed. I wouldn't call that accommodating anyway"

"What did I say about complainin'?"

She rolled her eyes at him and crossed her arms.

"I have the right to complain. You kidnapped me"

"I'm glad I aint marryin' someone who complains as much as you!"

"Well I'm glad I'm not marrying a kidnapper!"

"Why are we fighting again?! If you hate me that much you can go stay with someone else!" he growled. He felt like all they had done that day was fight.

"I never said I hated you" she said quietly, uncrossing her arms.

"Well it kinda feels like it, Luce" he sighed.

"Gajeel said to trust you" she said and frowned.

"Why would you trust him and not me?" he asked.

"Because I knew him before I knew you"

"How?"

"He used to be part of Phantom Lord. He never did anything bad like his friends did, though, and he left before it really went downhill...I guess I know where he went now" she explained.

"Right. So are you gonna trust me?" he asked, hoping to resolve everything.

"I guess I should" she smiled.

"Thank you"

"I guess I should probably thank you...It's not like I ever enjoyed being there...it was more like a prison then a home…"

He raised his eyebrows but opted to say nothing. She didn't look like she wanted to continue. At least she trusted him now. That was what he need.

"Let's get dinner. I'm already hungry!" he bellowed, trying to lighten the mood. He gave her a big smile.

"Oh, yeah…" Lucy said, she looked like her mind was elsewhere.

* * *

By the time they got back to their tent, Lucy was sick of the 'happy couple' jokes. She was actually sick of them after the first one but now she was at a point where she was ready to punch the next person who tried to make a joke.

She followed Natsu inside, assuming Happy was staying away after her threats to kill him at dinner. They were both tired after waking up so early and having a rather exhausting day so they silently agreed to go straight to sleep.

Despite the fact that Lucy had seen Natsu in his underwear multiple times, for some reason, tonight she suddenly felt uncomfortable. That might have had something to do with the fact the she had only just realised just how attractive Natsu was. She watched his rippling muscles as he yawned, completely captivated.

How had she been sharing a bed with a guy and not noticed just how good looking he was? It was pretty unmissable. How was she supposed to sleep next to him now?!

Lucy changed quickly after ordering Natsu to turn around, watching him so he didn't peek. After she was done she signalled for him to turn around and he slipped into bed without saying a word.

She looked down at the bed nervously.

He had put the covers over his waist, his chest - which just so happened to be where his handsome, perfect, _chiselled_ abs were - was fully exposed and open to ogle at. Lucy had to physically stop herself from drooling.

He watched her with curious eyes, his eyebrows raised at her as she realised she had yet to make a move to get into bed after him.

She closed her eyes for a second before opening them again, trying to will away the _bad_ thoughts in her brain. Stop, Lucy. He hasn't done anything yet, he's not going to now. Stop _wanting_ him to and get to bed!

She forced herself to climb into the bed next to him, pressing her back a little too much into his arm, almost sighing at the contact with his warm skin. He was always so warm. Lucy almost swore aloud when her brain started to think about how he could use that warmth…

She desperately closed her eyes, trying to will herself to sleep, but all she saw was her own imaginings of Natsu fully naked. She really wished that she had peeked that morning when he had gotten out of the water. She wished even more than he would have ignored her warnings and come closer.

She snapped her eyes open. Her fantasies were not helping. He had kidnapped her. She was not supposed to feel that way. But had he really? He was more like a friend than a slave driver and he always looked after her, he never made a move on her...she groaned out loud accidentally.

He had never made a move on her.

Did that mean he didn't want to? Or did he think that she didn't want to? Did she want to? Why was everything so complicated?!

She knew there was one sure fire way to get the questions she was asking for; to ask him directly. Hell, it wasn't like she was going to sleep anyway, she might as well.

She turned around to face Natsu, only to find that he was already looking at her intensely, his dark eyes revealing nothing. She resisted the temptation to move closer to him while she thought about what she wanted to say.

"Can't sleep?" he asked, not taking his eyes off her.

Lucy was suddenly very aware that Happy was gone. That meant that they were _alone_ in the tent. Maybe that's why he had never done anything before. She tried not to digress and instead thought about a reply.

"Not really" she said lamely.

"Maybe we shouldn't" he replied, causing her to panic.

"What does that mean?" she squealed. He frowned at her.

"Maybe we should play a game or somethin'. I dunno. What do you wanna do?" he asked.

She decided not to answer straight away as it felt like a trick question. Also she was afraid she would say something inappropriate. As much as she found him attractive, she wasn't sure she was quite ready to go the whole way with him. She was a lady after all. And she had some restraint. Or so she believed.

"I'm not sure. Maybe we should try sleeping" she sighed, glad that she hadn't blurted out something she regretted.

"Maybe" he said, still watching her face, not closing his eyes.

Lucy decided that it was now or never to ask him about the craziness that was going on in her mind. She opened her mouth to talk but shut it again.

Before she realised what she was doing, her brain had seemed to find a better way of answering her questions. She had raised her hands to his face and pulled his mouth to hers before he could even react.

She pulled away almost as quickly as she had kissed him, giving him a surprised look before she turned over again and shut her eyes. She was too worried about him not feeling the same way to stay for his reaction. She managed to miss his shocked face that quickly slipped into an expression of bliss.

She tried to calm her beating heart and did her best to regulate her breathing, trying to convince him she was asleep.

After a while, her act ended in her exhaustion catching up with her, lulling her into a soothing sleep.

* * *

He wasn't sure if she had just kissed him or if he was going insane, because the sleeping girl in front of him held little resemblance to the beautiful angel that had graced his lips just moments ago. She seemed to delicate and quiet now. She didn't have those sexy, hooded eyes or that low, tempting neckline.

He rolled onto his back. Even if that was a dream, it was just about the best thing that had happened to him. A gorgeous girl - _Lucy_ nonetheless - had kissed _him._ He didn't even have to say anything. She just _kissed_ him. Of her own volition.

He wanted to wake her up and kiss her back with ten times the intensity she had given him. But he knew that she would probably not appreciate that.

He had been feeling a little erratic since the sun had set. He knew that the full moon was very soon and it made him antsy. It also heightened his senses. And it had made sleeping in the same bed as Lucy that much more impossible. Especially since tonight she seemed to smell better than normal. He wasn't sure if it was because of his heightened senses or if it was Lucy herself, but either way it was making his brain scream at him to take her.

Despite the fact that she had kissed him, he was pretty sure that she would not appreciate him breaking his silent agreement now and make her his. He was trying desperately to calm his dragon side, but his animal half was better at convincing him than his human half was.

At this rate he was going to set the camp alight with his burning need.

He rolled around to face her again. Watching her somehow had a calming effect on him. His racing heart slowed and his savage thoughts ceased. He watched the slow rise of her chest and the way her gold hair spilled over her back. She didn't even have to say anything; she just made him feel better.

He moved his head closer until his forehead met her back and sighed. Her scent, that had driven him so wild with lust earlier, had a soothing effect, helping his tired eyes slowly slip down. He felt like a dog with it's owner. As much as he hated that idea, being owned by Lucy was probably not the worst fate to suffer. At least then he could be close to her.

He let his arms find their way around her waist and let her soft breaths anchor him into another night dreaming of her.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope this chapter wasn't too bad! I've been kind of exhausted so I can't really tell how good it is.**

 **Thank you, as usual, for all the wonderful comments and the follows/favourites! I can't believe I'm over 120 follows now! Thank you so much!**

 **This week will probably not be a double post as I'm kind of burnt out so I shall be back next week! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Natsu woke up in a complete daze. It was just as the sun had risen, and he was being shaken awake by someone.

He snapped his eyes open, trying to focus on what was happening. He saw Gray, a serious look on his face. Gray pulled his arms off Natsu's shoulders to stand up and cross his arms.

Natsu sat up immediately. Gray never looked that serious, which meant something had to be wrong. He rubbed the bleariness from his eyes and looked over to Lucy, who seemed to be stirring. He looked back to Gray and nodded.

"We have a big problem" Gray said.

"What is it this time?" Natsu yawned, trying to snap himself out of his sleepy state.

"The Oracion Seis are back"

"Shit!"

"Yeah, well we need all our manpower out now, so get your ass out of the honeymoon suite and help us"

"You really think it's the time for jokes?"

"When aint it the time? Get dressed they'll be here any minute, they're burning the forest around the camp, we need you to stop the fire"

"What about Lucy?"

"Do whatever. Just get out here as soon as you can!"

With that, Gray dashed outside again to join in on the fighting.

Natsu jumped up from the bed and made a mad dash around the room to find his clothes. It was fair to say that he was panicking a little. His main concern was the condition of the camp, but the second was Lucy. She had the chance to be injured or, somehow more worryingly, the chance to leave. The thought made his stomach twist uncomfortably as he shoved on his clothes.

"Natsu?" Lucy called, her voice laced with tiredness.

He paused, then finished doing up his trousers before he turned around to look at her.

"Get dressed and take Happy away from the camp" he ordered, worry showing in his features.

Lucy sat up immediately, any tiredness left in her system abolished, and gave him a concerned glance.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"The camps being attacked. Just do as I say and get the hell out of here before you get hurt. This aint up for debate" he growled. He was on edge and just about ready to shout at anyone that happened across his warpath. She nodded and was quick to follow his instructions.

He watched her adamantly, not so much to perv on her, more to make sure that nothing happened in his blind state of panic. She didn't seem to protest to his watchful eye when she saw the serious nature of his glare.

She threw on her clothes at lightning speed and scooped up Happy, who seemed to still be sleeping despite all the noise and confusion.

Natsu led her outside, wincing when he felt the heat coming from the forest, flames licking at the edge of the camp. He shoved Lucy in the other direction, watching her retreat before he made a move to join the others fighting.

"About time" Gray grumbled as Natsu stood next to him.

"I had ta make sure Lucy was safe, an' Happy too"

"Yeah, yeah, just deal with this fire so we can beat their asses"

"I was thinkin' about breakfast, looks like I gotta good meal" Natsu said, lunging himself at the fire, which did little more than tickle him.

He devoured it easily, just as his father had taught him, and soon all that was left was a litter of burnt trees surrounding the edge of the forest.

"Ahh" Natsu sighed, catching sight of the enemy. "Now I got a fire in my belly!"

* * *

Lucy watched silently, from a safe distance, with wide eyes.

Had she just seen what she thought she had? Had Natsu really just eaten _fire_?

She watched him fight gracefully, dodging the enemy attacks easily, countering heavily with his own. He rarely missed and soon bought his opponent to his knees. The most beautiful thing Lucy had found about watching him fight was the fire that engulfed his knuckles.

She knew that he was part dragon but she had no idea what that meant until now. He was instinctive and aggressive, like an animal, and his whole body had the capability of being covered in flames. Fire couldn't touch him; it only fed him, made him stronger. It was breathtaking henceforth why Lucy had yet to breathe out or utter a sound.

He looked feral as his pulled up his enemy by his collar, his lip curled as a threat, unheard by Lucy, rolled off his tongue. His spare fist, full of fire, was raised above his head, poised to punch. The man below him seemed to be scared into ommision; as soon as he was dropped he ran, shouting at his friends to do the same.

Natsu dropped his fist, letting the fire die out, and gave himself a minute to breathe. Then, before Lucy had time to react, he raised his head to look her directly in the eye. His face was still contorted with anger but it soon relaxed as he watched her, a gesture she found soothing.

He broke eye contact only when Gray punched him on the arm. Lucy watched as they chatted and surveyed the damage. She was impressed at how quickly they had driven the enemy out and at how the camp only seemed to suffer from a little damage.

"He's different when he fights"

Lucy looked down to find Happy watching over the boys with a solemn expression.

"I've never seen anything like it before. He truly is a dragon when he fights"

"Aye"

"It's kind of scary...he's so different"

"He's still Natsu. He just likes to fight. He doesn't like to be serious most of the time but he always grows up when the situation calls for it"

"I feel like I still know nothing about him"

"Aye"

* * *

Natsu walked back to the tent unsure as to what he was supposed to do next.

He was well aware that Lucy had been watching him the whole fight but he wasn't able to gage just how she was feeling about the whole thing. He was worried, more than he would care to admit, that it gave her a much worse opinion of him.

He was a half-dragon, and he had, up until now, yet to show her what that truly meant. He controlled fire, he devoured it and he created it. It scared people and he got called a monster more times that a kid should. He was worried Lucy would look at him like that now; like he was a monster.

He paused at the opening to the tent. She might not even be back.

He sighed, pushing inside. He hated the way she made him feel so tense about his own home. He was a dragon - a fearsome one at that - yet she made him feel more like a puppy, a _domesticated_ puppy.

She was sat inside the tent on their bed, as she had done the other day. She looked dazed, not paying attention to the fact that he had even entered. He winced, unsure if it was a good sign or not.

"Natsu!" Happy cried. The blue exceed flew to his friends side immediately, glad for his safe return.

The outcry from his furry blue friend seemed to snap Lucy out of her daze and suddenly her eyes found his and she blushed furiously. He raised an eyebrow, curious as to what it as she was thinking. She jumped up and ran to him, but stopped short of a hug.

"Oh, um, you're back" she said, quietly. She put her head down, not meeting his eager gaze.

"Yeah, well it wasn't that much work really" he said bashfully, scratching the back of his head.

"That's good" she muttered. He frowned. She didn't exactly look pleased to see him. But, then again, she didn't really look scared of him either.

"Why didn't you take your chance to leave?" he asked. She raised her head and gave him a look of confusion. "We were all distracted. You could've gone home" he explained.

"Oh" she said, as if the thought had never even occurred to her. "I didn't even think about it…" she frowned at herself.

"Sorry you lost your chance to run" he said, a little more bitter than he meant it to be. He couldn't help the horrible feeling in his gut at the idea that she still wanted to go. "Wendy should have your bed done by now, you should go get it"

"Natsu! I-"

"It's fine, just forget about it" he said turning around to get to the door.

"No!" she shouted, he turned back to face her. "I...I'm glad you're okay" she said softly.

He stood speechless for a moment before turning back to face the door.

"Come on, Haps. Let's go help Gajeel and Lily with the clean up" he sighed.

He looked down at his friend who looked unimpressed with him. He knew Happy wanted them all to be friends, but Natsu couldn't help it. He left the tent with only one thought.

She would never feel the same way, for him, that he did for her.

* * *

 **Hey guys! I hope that chapter wasn't too bad! I went in a whole different direction that I thought I would but I think it worked :) Sorry it's so short I I will try to make the next one longer.**

 **Thank you for all the amazing reviews, favourites and follows! By the way if you have a question that I forget to answer feel free to message me about it ^-^**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Lucy was not exactly sure what she had done wrong. She had _basically_ confessed her feelings - because she was hinting when she told him she was glad he was okay - and he had just left. Did that mean that he didn't feel the same way? It was too confusing for her.

She sat alone in the tent and wondered what she was supposed to do when Natsu had left, with her joy.

She thought that things were getting easier between them but as soon as he had mentioned her being able to leave he freaked out and stopped listening to reason. Lucy wondered if it had anything to do with that full moon stuff Gajeel was trying to explain to her.

Did she still want to leave? She wanted to see her father. But she couldn't deny the feeling that she didn't want to leave this tribe or the friends she had made it in. It felt like _home_. Much more than her old tribe. She didn't even think to leave when the tribe was under attack because she didn't want to leave her friends behind. She thought that Natsu would understand that, but maybe she needed to make it clear.

And then there was the fact that she had _kissed_ him. She was pretty sure he had forgotten that if he thought she wanted to leave him. It seemed to take a lot to get through that thick skull.

She stood up with a renewed, determined glint in her eyes. She was going to make him see things her way. That stupid idiot.

She stormed out of the tent to go see Wendy, for both a bed and advice on a certain dense dragon.

* * *

It was getting worse. How could he not have noticed it earlier? He had one more night of freedom before he was out of control. How was he supposed to deal with this? He couldn't exactly just kick Lucy out, but he wasn't sure what he would do if she stayed.

 _Especially_ since he had been having those dreams about her. If he was not able to discern his dreams from reality, he would definitely end up doing something to her which would probably get him 'Lucy-kicked' so hard in the balls that they would never have children. He was kind of hoping to have children.

So, on his walk, as he sulked and regretting being rude - once again - to Lucy, he ended up outside the one tent he really didn't want to go into. He knew he had to, but he _really_ didn't want to. That pompous ass beat him up all the time, not that Natsu would ever openly admit it.

He put on the most menacing face he could muster and stepped into the tent that, despite being an adult, always made him feel like a child.

He found the occupant, as he knew he would, sat at a table in the middle of the, some-what large, tent. He looked up immediately at Natsu's entrance and a cocky grin quickly grew on his face.

He was a large man; tall with broad shoulders, with short blond hair and a lightning shaped scar that cut down across his eye.

"Ah, so the little brat finally came for advice from a real man, huh?" he laughed. His voice was deep and booming and it unnerved Nastu to a point that really ticked him off.

"Tsk, yeah, whatever. I just came cause no one else has experienced anything like I'm gonna before...I mean you bein' half demon an' all…"

"Yeah, yeah. Well sit down, Natsu. Let a _real man_ tell you what you need to know" he teased.

"Shut up, Laxus. You're starting to sound like Elfman" he scoffed, finding a seat at the table, across from him.

"I'm guessin' this visit has to do with that blonde chick with nice tits" Laxus said, a devilish glint in his eye. He knew how to wind Natsu up.

"Don't say that shit about Lucy. I didn't come 'ere so you could piss me off. Just tell me how to _stop it_ " he said, through gritted teeth.

"You're more of an idiot than I thought you were" Laxus sighed. "There _isn't_ a way to stop it. You just get out of control and that's that. You can deal with the consequences once it's done or your can tell blondie now that you'll probably end up raping her. That's it" He said in a steady voice. Natsu's eyes widened.

"But I don't want that" he said, a little desperately.

"Well, you aint got a choice kid. Best thing you can do now is warn her or try and get her to _be okay with it_ "

"What's that supposed to mean?"

" _Well_ , you have to get her to agree with it"

"What?"

"You're useless, kid" Laxus sighed. "You gotta get her to _want_ to have sex with you. Dumbass"

"WHAT?!" Natsu shouted. "But I haven't even known her that long! Why would she agree to that?! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Laxus shrugged at him.

"Worked for me"

"I DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW THAT!"

"Then why did you come to me for advice?"

"BECAUSE I THOUGHT THERE WAS A WAY TO PREVENT IT!" he cried. "How do you know Dragons aren't different?"

"Demons, dragons...they're all the same"

"Pshh, more like Demons are fake dragons...you're like a fake half-dragon" Natsu huffed.

"Whatever you say, kid"

"I'm not a kid!"

"Sure, kid. Now get the hell outta my tent and let someone else deal with your sexual frustration" Laxus said, calmly but threateningly.

"I aint got no sexual frustration" Natsu grumbled on his way out.

"Yeah, and I aint a half-demon. Don't lie, kid. It aint good for ya" Laxus replied.

With that, Natsu exited the tent and went to get some food and sulk some more. And maybe, just maybe, let his sexual frustration out in a fight with Gray. Because, half-dragon or not, he was not going to let this beat him. Even if the idea of having sex with Lucy was putting his brain in overdrive right now.

* * *

"Wendy? Are you there?" Lucy called, looking around the large, messy tent.

"Lucy?" Wendy called, popping up from behind her stack of material.

As soon as she noticed Lucy, she gave her a big smile and immediately dropped her work to run over and hug the girl. She pulled back after a minute to give Lucy a big grin.

"Are you here for your bed? Natsu said he would pick it up later but I guess you couldn't wait" Wendy said. Lucy nodded but frowned.

"I don't suppose you could help me with something else?"

"Sure! What is it?" Wendy asked eagerly.

"Well it's about Natsu actually…"

"Oh. I don't know how much I can help with that…"

"Well I figured you know him pretty well so I'd just like your advice really" Lucy sighed.

"I can try!" Wendy promised, giving a look of determination.

"Well I think he's mad at me but I'm not sure why" Lucy frowned. "We were having a conversation and then he started talking about how I could have left when you were all distracted, I told him I didn't really think about it and then he just stormed off, even when I said I was glad he was okay…" she explained, blushing a little at the last part.

"Hmm" Wendy said, tapping her lip with her finger, deep in thought. "Well Natsu is kind of silly...but I also think that you are probably precious to him. The idea of something precious being taken away is much worse for a dragon then it is for a human, so I guess he's just scared. But Natsu doesn't really do scared so he's probably fuelling it into anger instead"

"So you think he's just worried that I'll leave him?"

"Yep. But you're not going, right?" Wendy asked, looking a little worried.

"I don't know. I want to see my father, but I also want to stay here with the friends I have made"

"But if you go back everyone with be sad!" Wendy pleaded. "I'll be sad….Natsu will be very sad"

"I don't think he'll be that sad…" Lucy blushed, thinking about their kiss the other night and how he seemed to have forgotten all about it.

"You're wrong" Wendy said, with determination. "He likes you a lot"

"But we hardly know each other! That doesn't really make sense…"

"Silly, Lucy! We're _dragons_ we know what we want faster than humans do. He probably knew he liked you from the second he saw you. Natsu has never taken care of someone before. That means you're special! I can see it too! You're my friend"

"Thanks, Wendy" Lucy sighed, still not sure what to do with the guy.

"Just tell him you want to stay and it will make him happy" Wendy assured her.

"Or!"

Lucy and Wendy turned around at the voice to see Cana lurking at the entrance, she winked at them both before continuing.

"You could just _show_ him that you want to stay!" she said, waggling her eyebrows at them.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Lucy cried, going red in the face.

"Just seduce him. Nothing makes a man forgive you better than a sexy girl" Cana laughed.

"S-seduce him?!" Lucy spluttered, causing Cana to laugh harder. "I can't do that!"

"Then I guess he's staying mad" Cana sighed dramatically and turned around to leave.

"But!" Lucy shouted, but Cana had already exited leaving Lucy and Wendy blushing.

"Er, I'll get your bed for you now, Lucy!" Wendy squeaked, retreating behind her fabric pile to leave Lucy to her thoughts.

Lucy was confused to say the least. Even if she _was_ considering the idea of seducing him - which she _wasn't_ \- how was she even supposed to _do it_? Although she had always been confident in the body she was born with, the idea of baring it all for Natsu was more than embarrassing.

Wendy hurriedly returned to Lucy, bed in hand, and handed it over to her quietly. It was obvious that neither of them were comfortable to continue to conversation about Natsu so Lucy simply said her thanks and left.

On her way back to the tent, she couldn't deny that Cana's words had gotten to her. As much as she wanted to go with Wendy's plan, Natsu was being irrational and didn't seem to actually be listening to her. Maybe, _just maybe_ , he would listen if she showed him _how_ she felt rather than telling him. He _did_ seem like the type that was better at communicating through actions. Just like when he was fighting.

When she got into the tent she found she was alone again. She looked over at Natsu's bed, the bed she had grown accustomed to, and sighed. She wasn't exactly sure that she would miss the close quarters, but it was always so warm.

She laid her bed down next to his, a bit closer than necessary, and observed it. It almost looked like a double bed they were so close. But she didn't want to be cold, right? Looking at the thick line that separated the beds was a lot like looking at a deep chasm, to her. She felt, if she dared to cross that line, that she would only end up in a deep, dark hole with no way out. It looked miles away but at the same time centimetres. But, no matter the distance, it was a line; a line between them, one that divided them. She looked away unsure as to why the line made her feel so uneasy, like she wanted to cover it up.

She sighed, turning to face the door, and wondered what the rest of the day would bring, and if she would spend all her time contemplating that hauntingly obvious line.

* * *

Natsu saw it as soon as he walked into his tent. It was like it was mocking him. That other bed, that division between them. He wished he could just ask Wendy to sew the two parts together, make _one_ big bed with no lines in the middle.

He glared at the space between the beds; it was like it was mocking him. Close, but not close enough. Not close enough to soothe him. Not close enough to satisfy him. Not close enough to have a good excuse to touch her.

The fight with Gray had obviously not been enough to calm him; he felt that burning desire deep inside his gut once more when he thought about being in bed with her.

Maybe he could just push the beds a little closer. Just by 'accident'. He chuckled, short and deep, before letting his foot slip, thinning the dark line between the beds. Before he was tempted to push the two beds completely together, he left, not wanting his fantasies to consume him.

He took a walk in the forest, before the light of the day was completely gone, hoping his dark needs would dissipate, knowing the ache would only get worse.

* * *

 **Sorry for the late chapter! My week has been super busy and I didn't want to rush it! Thanks for reading! :)**

 **Thank you, as usual, for favourite/follows and the comments that always make my day ^-^**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

When Lucy got back to the tent in the evening, Natsu was nowhere in sight, but that line, that had not stopped haunting her all day, was now noticeably thinner.

Her heart became erratic at the idea that Natsu might have pushed them together on purpose, but she thought it was more likely that it had probably been an accident. Wasn't he angry at her? Despite how it came to be, the smaller distance between the two beds definitely made her happy. A bit too happy.

Cana's words were still ringing through her mind. She wouldn't do it. Maybe it wouldn't hurt.

She was in two minds about the whole thing.

On one hand, she was really worried that it wouldn't work and she was also kind of _embarrassed._ She was also kind of worried that it would work _too_ well.

On the other hand, she really wanted to figure out what he was thinking about and she couldn't exactly do that when he was mad at her.

She sighed. It was dark so she decided to get ready for bed and spend her first night in her newly made bed.

By the time she had finished getting into her night dress, making sure she was showing more cleavage than usual - not that she would admit it - Natsu still wasn't back.

She let out another long sigh and loomed over her bed, wondering if she should wait for him or not. Before she had time to make her mind up, Natsu stepped through the threshold.

She turned around to face him and gulped. It was now or never. She breathed in heavily and build up her courage before deciding to make a move.

She watched Natsu, his eyes fixed to her chest, his face a little flushed. She wasn't sure if she should laugh or blush as well.

While his eyes were glued to her, she decided to take advantage, stretching so that her dress rode up higher on her thighs, yawing so it wasn't too obvious. She heard an audible gulp and found his face was burning a darker red.

"I'm tired!" she yawned. "Are we going to bed now?" she asked.

He shook his head, obviously trying to snap himself out of his intense gaze, and flicked his eyes away from her body for a minute, looking her in the eyes as he replied, before his eyes slid back down.

"Oh, err, sure…" he said, his voice cracking a little.

They both systematically made their way into their separate beds. As soon as they were settled, Lucy turned to look at Natsu, finding he was already watching her, making sure her covers just reached over her waist, leaving her chest well exposed for his eyes.

"Natsu?" she asked.

He closed his eyes and breathed in - a long, ragged breath - before opening his eyes back up and looking her in the eye.

"Yeah?" he replied, his voice a little more even.

"Are you still mad at me?" she asked, trying to use her 'distraction' to get to the heart of the problem.

"Why would I be mad?" he said, frowning. She watched his face as the realisation dawned on him. "Oh, right, err, no? I don't think so…" he said, creasing his brow further.

Well she had to give herself some props. She had managed to make his brain turn to goo just by pulling her neckline a little lower.

Suddenly, she became bolder, deciding that she might as well us this time to question him about the kiss that they had shared as well. She really wanted to know what he was think. So, with that in mind, she got up onto the her knees and leaned down to face him, giving him a better view of both her face and her chest.

"Natsu?" she asked.

He must have been lost in thought because as soon as she said his name he shook his head and blushed fiercely when he realised how close they were, and how much he could see.

"Yeah?" he said again, his voice raising an octave.

"About the other night…" she started, beginning to lose her resolve a little.

Without warning, Natsu jumped up and dashed out of the tent, not saying a word, leaving Lucy alone and even more confused than before.

* * *

SHIT. What the hell was even happening? His mind replayed the images of Lucy in barely-there clothing...SHIT. He was almost running down to waterfall. He needed cold water but he really didn't want to run the risk of bumping into anyone in the river.

How was he supposed to _ask_ her when she was dressed like that? He was having a hard enough time just breathing.

He realised it was probably a bad idea just to leave the tent without any explanation, but it he had stayed there any longer he wasn't sure he would be able to control himself and that was the complete opposite of what he came there to do.

Maybe he could just got on a really long hunting trip tomorrow. On his own.

He reached the waterfall just as his crotch started to feel like it was on fire.

He was very used to fire, being a half-fire dragon and all, but this fire was not something that was so easily controlled like the rest that he had experienced. It was fierce, untameable, completely wild and it scared him more than anything else. It had the capability to burn him and that was more than worrying.

He threw off his underwear and dived into the freezing water, trying to relieve his aching.

He observed the pretty surroundings, praying that the sight would rid him of those unforgettable images of Lucy and the insatiable burning that came along with them.

He just needed to calm down.

He just needed to be calm enough to go back to that tent and sleep next to her like nothing had happened.

He need to ask her, but he was thinking, now, that it was probably more realistic that he just tried to run away from it.

He sighed as he felt the water helping him relax. He was no longer raging with desperate resistance against the animalistic side of his mind. He was just far enough away from her that he could relax.

He submerged in the water until only his eyes and nose were above the water level.

The water looked beautiful; the night sky reflected in it, looking as if he was bathing with the stars rather than just simple water.

He did not know much about the stars. He had always found them beautiful. They reminded him a lot of Lucy; breath-taking, shining bright and way too far out of his reach. Maybe if he could touch the sky, he might just have a chance at winning her heart.

He reached his hand out, like he had many time when he was younger, and desperately reached out, even though he knew it was all in vein.

He sighed, letting his arm splash back into the water, standing up so that his torso was revealed. He looked across the water and remembered before when he found Lucy in their depths and thought that she was a goddess. Perhaps she was still. A goddess sent from the stars.

He laughed to himself, feeling back to normal, and decided to get out of the water, drying himself with his flames as soon as he stepped foot on solid ground. He slipped his boxers back on and made his way back to the tent hoping that Lucy was asleep.

Maybe he would reach out to her like he had done with the night sky. He sighed again knowing she was just as untouchable as the stars.

* * *

Lucy was more than a little worried. Her mind was reeling with the possibilities that she had pissed off Natsu even more, if not she had surely done something that had made him upset of uncomfortable.

She had been warring with herself for at least half an hour before Natsu rejoined her in the tent. He looked her way, the large smile on his face dropping a little. He looked tired. And sad.

Before she could stop herself, she had jumped up out of bed and enveloped him in a large hug.

"Why did you leave, idiot?" she asked, close to tears.

Natsu had yet to react to her actions and she was feeling a bit anxious. Just as she was about to pull away out of embarrassment, he held her back, a little tighter than her own grip. She buried her head into his chest, blushing a little at his lack of clothing.

"Sorry" he sighed.

"Don't leave, stupid!" she snapped, though her soft tone showed that she was only angry on the surface.

"Sorry" he said again, rubbing her back a little. He touched seemed awkward and unsure. "Let's go to bed" he said, pulling away from her more quickly than she desired.

She sighed, watching him slip under his covers and did the same. She rolled over to face him, finding that he was turned away from her.

Feeling bold, she shuffled across their beds until she joined him under his own covers. He turned around at the movement and looked a little shocked to find her so close.

"What are ya doin', Luce?" he asked nervously.

"It's cold in my bed" she lied, moving a little closer until their lips were inches apart.

He blushed and rolled onto his back which only served to annoy her.

"Idiot!" she snapped, punching him on the arm.

"Oi!" he said, rubbing his arm, turning his head to watch her face. "What was that for?!"

"You're so stupid!" she huffed, losing her composure.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he growled.

"I LIKE YOU, STUPID!" she shouted, slapping a hand over her mouth after the words slipped out. "ARGH!"

Lucy turned over to face away from him, blushing furiously.

"Lucy…" he said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder to try and turn her back to face him.

"Don't 'Lucy' me, dumbass! I get it. I'm stupid. I'm sorry I kissed you the other night…"

"Lucy…"

"I SAID DON'T!"

"Lucy" he growled, his hand on her shoulder now firmer, pushing her onto her back to she had to meet his eyes.

She huffed, crossing her arms, watching him for what he was going to do next. Before she could process what happened his pressed a quick kiss to her lips. She felt his warm lips against hers with a soft pressure but, before she could reciprocate, he pulled away and lied back on his back.

"I like ya too, weirdo" he said. He turned over to face her, waiting for her to do the same before he said anything else. "Look, I dunno if you know much about dragons and shit but maybe you wouldn't like me so much if you knew" he said, looking remorseful.

"Tch. You're always an idiot, aren't you?" she said, rolling her eyes, he looked taken aback but didn't seem to have anything to say. "Let me guess, you mate for life and you're hideously territorial which means if I decide I don't like you, I'll likely never be able to be with someone else ever"

"Pretty much. Are you still sure you like me?"

"You're still dumb, but yes. I think it's a little too late to ask anyway, seeing as you already like me. I'm pretty sure if I told you I was in love with Gray now, that you would stalk over to his tent with the intention of murder"

"YOU LIKE GRAY? WHERE IS THAT BASTARD? I GOTTA KILL HIM!" He shouted, jumping up. Lucy sighed.

"I don't like Gray, stupid. That was my point" she said, grabbing his leg so he couldn't leave. "Get back into bed!" she snapped and he immediately obeyed.

He shuffled back into bed and, when he face her, gave her a sombre expression.

"I'm gonna leave tomorrow" he sighed, pushing his hair out of his face. Lucy frowned.

"Why?"

"It's a full moon and I don't wanna hurt you" he said with a serious face.

"Oh" was the only reply that she could think of. So that's what Gajeel was warning her about. "So how long are you going to be away?"

"I'll come back, at some point. I promise" he smiled.

"You worry about me leaving and then leave me" Lucy grumbled.

"I'm comin' back. I'll always come back for you" he promised.

"You think I wouldn't come back?" she accused.

"It worries me"

"Stop being an idiot. How many times have I had to say that tonight?"

"Still. I don't want you to leave this camp under any circumstances"

"That's not exactly fair"

"But I technically kidnapped you so it's my rules"

Lucy sighed, knowing she was fighting a losing battle.

"Let's just go to bed" she said, losing the enthusiasm she had earlier.

She heard him let out a soft sigh before he rolled onto his back and nodded.

Despite still being a little annoyed, Lucy didn't want to waste her last night for god knows how long being caught up in her anger. She shuffled a little closer and rested her head on his chest, seeking his warmth.

As she closed her eyes she felt Natsu softly stroke the top of her head until she fell into a heavy sleep.

* * *

 **Sorry for the late update! It will most likely be the same for the next three or four weeks as I have two essays and some dissertation stuff to write :/ I will do my best to write as often as I can but I hardly have any time at the moment!**

 **Thanks for your patience, I hope you enjoyed reading it. Thanks for all the favourite/followers and all the lovely reviews!**

 **p.s. for anyone that is reading _Just Like The Stories_ I will try and update this week but if not it will be because I'm really busy. I might have a weekend free so that I can write a good chapter but I don't want to post anything that half-assed so I'd rather get a perfect chapter and be a little later.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

Lucy woke up alone, as she had the last time Natsu had gone hunting.

She sighed, looking around the empty tent, wondering where Happy had gone off to. He wasn't there last night either but, seeing as Natsu hadn't freaked out then, she assumed he had just gone to sleep elsewhere.

She got up, and dressed, slowly, not feeling the need to rush into her time alone.

Once she was done, Lucy walked out of the tent to go and find someone she could talk to.

Luckily - and maybe unluckily - she bumped into Gray as soon as she exited.

She gave him a soft smile, studying his focused eyes.

"Hey, Lucy! Don't suppose you've seen Natsu?" he asked, tilting his head a little.

"Oh, no. He said he was leaving today to go on a hunt, did he not tell you?" she replied, a little confused.

"That stupid flamebrain" Gray muttered, giving Lucy a smile when she gave him a concerned look. "No worries, Lucy! It aint a big deal"

With that said, Gray made his way to the food tent, which Lucy assumed was to ask if anyone had seen Natsu.

"Lu!"

Lucy turned around to find Levy calling her, a bit of a confused look on her face.

"Hey, Levy! What's up?" she asked.

"I don't suppose you've seen Gajeel?" she asked, looking around as if to emphasise her point.

"Er, no. Didn't he say he was going on a hunt? Maybe he went with Natsu…"

"Oh, did he? Maybe I was just worrying too much!" she laughed, though her eyes still sparkled with concern.

"Don't worry about him, Levy! I'm sure he'll be back soon!" she tried to comfort the girl.

"Yeah, you're right, Lu! How about we have a girls day then?" she asked with a renewed enthusiasm.

"Sounds perfect!" Lucy exclaimed, looking forward to the fact that she wouldn't have to spend the day alone.

As much as she was starting to enjoy living in the Fairy Tail camp, she was still wary that she was a bit of a stranger to most people.

Lucy walked with Levy to the food tent to get some breakfast.

"LUCY!"

She turned around just in time to catch a flying, emotional, blue cat in her arms. She looked down at the adorable creature and hugged it back enthusiastically.

"Hey, Happy. What's up?" she asked, feeling like she was having to say that a lot that day.

"Natsu left me behind when he went hunting!" Happy pouted when he pulled his face from her chest.

"I'm sure he had a reason, Happy. He probably didn't want you to get hurt" she assured him.

"But he normally only leaves me at home on group hunts!" he cried.

"Well then maybe he went especially to get you some fish and he didn't want to ruin the surprise" she said, knowing his ears would at least perk up at the mention of fish.

"Really?" he asked, excitement in his eyes.

"I'm sure" she smiled back.

"Yay, fish~!" he sang, letting go of Lucy to fly laps around her head. "Lucy~! Lets go fishing!"

Lucy laughed, enjoying his upbeat mood.

"I thought I scared all the fish away?" she teased.

"But Natsu's not here so you have to come instead!" he assured her.

"Why me?" she asked, frowning.

"Because Lucy is Lucy!" he said, tugging on her shirt.

Lucy looked over to Levy who was walking over to them with their food.

"How about we go after breakfast?" she suggested.

"YAY! Lucy is the best!" Happy rejoiced, following as Lucy and Levy found a nearby table.

"Is it okay if Levy joins us?" Lucy asked Happy before she started eating her food.

"Sure" Happy said, finding a seat next to her, trying to contain his excitement.

"Where are we going?" Levy asked as Lucy tucked into her food.

Lucy waited to swallow her mouthful, but Happy replied in her stead.

"Fishing!" he sang.

"Okay" Levy smiled, looking over at the happy cat. "I can bring my book and read some stories! And maybe we can ask Mirajane to make us a picnic!" Levy cheered.

Lucy nodded in agreement, looking forward to the day.

"Did someone say picnic?" Erza asked behind Lucy, making her jump.

"Oh...yeah...we were going to have one when we were going fishing" Levy replied, giving an apologetic look to Happy, who looked ready to cry if Erza joined them.

"Fishing?" Erza asked.

"Yeah, I promised Happy we would go" Lucy explained.

"Oh" Erza said, seemingly thinking hard. "Perhaps I shall join you another time for a picnic then" she smiled, walking off to leave the girls and the cat, once again, alone.

Happy and Levy sighed and Lucy went to finish her breakfast.

"What's with Erza and fishing?" Lucy asked, sensing the tension in the room.

"Er, it's a long story. Let's just say she tried going with Natsu and Happy once and it didn't end well" Levy said, cringing. "And we thought she was good at everything…" she said quietly, so much so that Lucy almost missed it.

Lucy raised her brow but decided not to pry the story out of her friend.

As soon as they finished up their breakfast, they talked to Mira, who was happy to make them a picnic, and waited for their lunch until they set off into the woods.

* * *

Natsu woke up on fire.

It's not like it hadn't happened before - when he was younger he didn't have as much control on his magic - but this time was much worse.

It _hurt_.

Natsu cried out in pain, glad that he had decided to get an early start on his little 'hunting trip'.

The fire was actually burning him. He could feel the skin on his arm bubbling, he could smell the horrible stench of burnt skin, and it _hurt_.

He let out another gargled scream, so raw it sounded almost animalistic. It _was_ animalistic.

How had he not noticed it earlier?

He watched patches of his skin burn off to reveal thick, red scales underneath.

How the hell was this happening now?

It was supposed to be rare for a half-dragon to show its scales, and that was at _night_. It was the middle of the fucking day. How the hell was that even possible?

He laughed bitterly.

It was supposed to be a good thing - _special_ \- to get your scales but Natsu didn't feel like celebrating. He was turning more into a real dragon with each passing day. If he thought it was hard to tame his dragon side before, it was be next to impossible now.

He was glad he was away from the camp because he wasn't sure what he would do to Lucy if he found her in this form.

His thoughts got interrupted by more sharp pain.

He cried out as he felt some of the skin of his face burn off.

The worst of the pain was settling down now, he sat on the ground and examined himself.

He had scales dotting all over his skin, he looked like a true half-dragon now. Half an animal. He was sure, if anybody found him this way, they would think he was half a monster.

He felt the pull of his animal instincts; his ears heard the forest better. He could hear the rapid heart beats of the small animals around him. His body was running on instinct; hunt, _kill_.

He could smell the sweet blood. He ran his tongue over his teeth only to find that they had elongated and sharpened.

He gasped, taking in a large breath, and then he stopped.

He could smell her.

It was distant but it was sweet, _addictive_. He focused everything on his sense of smell and breathed in heavily.

* * *

"Lucy, Lucy! Look at all the fishes!" Happy cried, pointing towards his handsome pile.

"Wow! You're really good at this!" she praised him.

"Yeah, Lucy, you stink!" he said, still sounding sweet and enthusiastic.

"Shut up, cat, or you don't get lunch!" she warned.

"I have my fishes, I don't need lunch!" he replied, sticking his tongue out and flying out of her way to stuff his pack full of fish.

"Lunchtime!" Levy called from behind them.

They ceased their bickering to dash over to join Levy.

Lunch was very enjoyable for Lucy. Happy had tucked into all the fished he couldn't fit in his pack, meaning he wasn't throwing out insults at her, and Mirajane had packed them a great lunch.

"I'm so full!" they all complained after finishing their lunch.

They all laid back on the grass and watched the sky.

"I miss Natsu" Happy complained.

"I'm sure he'll be back soon!" Levy said, trying to comfort him.

"What if he doesn't come back?" Happy asked, obviously worrying too much.

"He'll come back" Lucy assured him.

"But how do you know?"

"Because he promised"

"Is that why Natsu told me to stay with Wendy last night?"

"He did?"

"Yeah. He said 'I have to tell Lucy something important' and then told me to stay with Wendy"

"Oh"

"Do I have to stay with Wendy again?"

"You can stay in Natsu's tent with me"

"YAY!" Happy cheered, suddenly getting up.

"Let's head back" Levy said, sitting up.

"Okay" Lucy replied, still in a bit of a daze after Happy's revelation.

They walked back to the camp in general silence. They were nearly back to the food tent to thank Mira for their lunch when Lucy bumped into Gray again.

"Hey, Lucy" he greeted.

"Hey, Gray. Any luck with finding Natsu?" she asked.

She was a bit curiously herself about his whereabouts but she trusted him enough not to go and find him.

"Ah, no. D'ya mind if I check in your tent? Just in case he came back" He asked.

"Sure" she smiled, not seeing any problem with the proposition.

"Awesome, thanks, Lucy!" He smiled back, dashing off to find Natsu's tent.

Lucy walked into the food tent to find that Happy and Levy were already talking to Mira.

"Hey, Lucy" Mira greeted.

"Hey, Mira. Thanks for all the lovely food"

"I'm glad you enjoyed it!"

They shared a silent smile before they heard a loud shout ring through the camp.

Lucy shared a concerned look with her friends before she dashed out, along with a number of others.

"Shit!" Gray snapped, jogging towards the food tent, holding his arm.

He looked to be bleeding pretty seriously. Lucy widened her eyes and ran over to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"No, shit!" he complained, wincing at the pain.

"What happened?" she asked, looking around to see that they were gathering a crowd.

"I fucking found Natsu and he fucking _bit_ me" Gray said through gritted teeth.

Lucy's stomach dropped.

"What?" she asked, unsure as to if she had heard right.

"Natsu fucking bit me! He's acting like a fucking animal! As soon as I got in the tent he snarled at me and then bit me when I wouldn't leave" he snapped "Crap, this hurts!"

Gray took his hand away for a second to check his wound and Lucy caught a glimpse of it.

It was nasty. Like a savage animal had ripped it up. The teeth marks were deep and hardly looked human and it was gushing blood.

"Shit, Gray, we need to get you bandaged up!" Erza said, coming up next to them. "WENDY!"

Erza face was hard, she had obviously heard Gray's story.

Wendy rushed out of her tent towards the crowd, her eyes widening when she took a look a Gray, who was now looking a little pale.

"Take him into my tent" she commanded.

Erza nodded and started to lead him to the tent but she paused and turned to Lucy.

"I need you to check out Natsu's tent" she said, a grim expression on her face.

Lucy nodded and Erza gave her one last hard gaze before she carried Gray off to Wendy's tent.

"Lu, you aren't going to do it, right?" Levy asked, looking worried.

Lucy didn't say anything.

"What if he hurts you?" she asked, her voice sounding small.

Lucy shook her head and made her way slowly over to the tent that she shared with Natsu and Happy.

"Lucy!" she called, trying to run after her but Happy held her back.

Lucy reached the front of the tent with apprehension. She wasn't sure that she wanted to see what was inside.

Swallowing her fears, she pushed inside, refusing to open her eyes until she was fully in.

When she opened her eyes she gasped.

Natsu sat in front of her, Gray's blood staining his jaw, with red scales littered all over his body and yellow, snake-like eyes.

He watched her intently, not making a move, hardly seeming to breathe. Everywhere she moved his eyes would follow.

"Natsu?" she asked quietly.

He said nothing, still watching her closely.

He didn't seem on edge, or even on alert, he seemed to just be watching. Like he was curious about what she would do.

She looked behind her at the door, wondering if there was any escape left for her. The growl that resonated throughout the small space told her no.

She turned back to look at Natsu, his snarl dropped at he became almost docile under her gaze.

Curiously, she took a tentative step forward. Natsu's eyes narrowed a little but he made no move to stop her.

She took another step, holding her hand out as if he was a wild animal she was trying to stroke. His eyes remained a little narrowed but, again, he made no move to stop her from coming forward.

Though she knew she would come to regret it later, Lucy decided to cross the distance between them and place her hand upon his soft head. He made a noise, something between a growl and a whimper and bared his teeth.

Lucy swallowed. But, just when she thought he was going to bite her, he pounced on her, pushing her to the ground, trapping her with his weight, and then he sniffed her.

Lucy froze, unsure of what she was supposed to do. He surprised her once again when he sighed and collapsed on top of her.

"Natsu?" she called.

It was no good. He was out cold.

Lucy shoved his heavy body off herself and walked up to the tent opening. She peaked her head outside and found Levy watching a metre away with a worried face.

"Lucy!" she shouted, running over.

"Hey Levy" she sighed.

"Are you alright? What's happening?" she asked hurriedly.

"I'm fine. Natsu passed out, he didn't hurt me or anything, but I think I should probably stay here, he didn't take kindly to the idea of me leaving when he was awake and I doubt he'd be happy if he woke up alone"

"Oh, Lu! I'm sorry!" she said sadly.

"It's okay" Lucy assured her. "How is Gray doing?"

"He's sleeping at the moment but Wendy says he should be fine by tomorrow morning, no scars or anything"

"Good" Lucy sighed.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"Yeah, just go and tell Erza what I told you. I'm sure she'll come up with a plan"

"If you say so Lucy" Levy sighed, a sad look on her face.

Lucy went back into the tent and sat down next to a sleeping Natsu, wondering what she was supposed to do next.

* * *

Natsu could smell Lucy everywhere.

He was really tired. So tired he couldn't even open his eyes.

He wasn't sure why, but he felt exhausted.

But he was content. He didn't need to know the answers now. All he knew was that he could smell Lucy and she smelt _good_. Better than anything he had ever smelt before.

He was sure he was dreaming, because the last thing he remembered was collapsing in the middle of the forest.

He moved his head a little, despite being too tired to open his eyes, and felt a hand run through his hair. It almost felt like Lucy's hand. It definitely smelled like her. The simple touch unwound something within him, though.

Natsu felt hungry.

But he didn't want his usual food.

He was hungry and Lucy smelt good enough to eat.

* * *

 **Hey guys! Sorry for the slow updates at the moment, life is still stupidly busy. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I had a lot of fun writing this one :)**

 **For everyone reading _Just Like The Stories_ I am writing it - it has been started - but it's taking me longer than usual, also I don't want to post a half assed chapter so it will probably end up being a long one!**

 **For those of you reading _In The Next Room_ I shall probably post an update in the next few days when I finish editing the next part. The chapters are pretty long so it's taking me a while.**

 **Thank you for all your support on this story! It makes me happy to know that people are actually enjoying my stuff :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**i'm back! Finally! I have a month off over Christmas break so I am going to write as much as I can an try and make up for everything I missed while I was busy writing essays. Hope you enjoy!**

 **This chapter is M rated.**

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen**

Lucy watched as Natsu slept, kneeling down next to him and stroking his soft hair. He looked so calm and sweet, like a little puppy rather than the savage animal he was proving himself to be earlier.

She smiled as she noticed him sniff the air and shuffle his head closer to her lap.

Unbeknownst to the fact that he was actually conscious, his adorable form disarmed her and she decided to pull his head onto her lap, biting her lip to keep her from giggling when he started making a noise a lot like a purr.

Lucy wondered about what Erza was planning. By now she would have been told by Levy and Lucy was sure she would have a plan in the works.

Just before she got completely lost in her thoughts, she noticed Natsu's eyes were open. The yellow in his eyes had disappeared and he looked a little more normal despite the, still prominent, scales.

"Lucy?" he asked.

He looked confused as to how he had got there. Lucy wasn't sure if the fact relieved her or made her feel more tense.

"Yeah?" she replied, unsure as to what else she was supposed to say.

"What happened?" he asked, looking around. "Why am I back at camp?"

"I don't know. You came back to camp and when Gray found him you bit him, then I came to find you and you jumped on me and then just collapsed and fell asleep"

"I bit Gray?" he asked, pulling his head from her lap to get up.

"Yeah, he was bleeding everywhere, he's healing in Wendy's tent now" she sighed.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked, looking desperate.

"No, but you growled at me when I tried to leave" she laughed.

"Sorry" he said, looking a little downtrodden.

"It's okay" she smiled which made him sigh.

"Lucy?"

Their heads snapped towards the tent where they heard Erza's voice.

"Yeah?" Lucy replied.

Natsu stayed quiet, opting to lie back down on her lap and close his eyes.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

Lucy looked down at Natsu's head on her lap. He _looked_ docile enough for guests but that didn't mean he _was_. She threaded her fingers through his hair and started stroking his head again.

"Do you mind if Erza comes in?" she asked him quietly, noticing that his eyes had closed the second she had started playing with his hair.

He shrugged and buried his nose deeper in her lap. She did her best not to laugh at his adorable actions, reminding herself she was in a serious situation.

"Sure, Erza, come in" she sighed, not stopping her ministrations to his hair, despite how embarrassed it made her.

She watched the redhead enter, a serious look upon her face.

"How are you doing?" Erza asked with a frown.

"I'm fine, Erza. He would never hurt me" she promised.

"Perhaps you should take your leave while he sleeps" she suggested.

Before Lucy could refuse her, within a second, Natsu snapped his eyes open and growled, the yellow swirling in his irises again. He barred his teeth at Erza, a warning to back away.

"Lucy. You should leave before he hurts you" Erza said seriously, not taking her eyes off of Natsu.

"I'm fine, Erza. But he's only going to get worse if you stay. I don't want you to end up like Gray" she pleaded, knowing Natsu wanted her gone.

"I can't leave you alone with him" she said.

"Yes, you can. He won't hurt me, I promise. If he does I'll call you straight away, I swear. I just need you to go before he hurts you"

"Very well" Erza said, getting up to hurry out of the tent. "Do not be afraid to ask for help" she commented before she left them alone again.

As soon as she had left, Natsu had fallen back into silence, closing his eyes again.

Lucy was unsure what to say. Was she supposed to bring up what happened between them? Was she supposed to ignore it?

She looked down to watch Natsu's relaxed face and he breathed gently in and out. He looked so tranquil. It scared her that he changed so quickly.

"Stop thinkin' so much, you're too loud" Natsu complained, not bothering to open his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she huffed, blushing a little.

"You always think too much" he said, turning his head and opening his eyes so he could look at her.

He looked a little more back to normal, but something in the back of her mind was telling her she should be cautious.

"You should really just go with it" he smirked, which only made Lucy more cautious.

He sat up, looking wide awake, the cocky grin still on his face.

"Go with what?" she asked, backing away a little.

"Just trust me" he said a little too sweetly.

"I do" she said honestly, swallowing at the mischievous look in his eyes.

"Good" he growled.

Before she could register the fact that he had moved, he was on top of her, looking over her with hungry eyes.

"N-Natsu?" she asked.

His eyes skimmed over her chest at a painfully slow pace before he looked her in the eye. He lowered his face to hers until they were only a breath away, a smug look on his face.

"You can trust me" he assured her, his lips tickling hers.

"I know" she whispered, feeling her heart racing.

He gave her an intense look before closing the distance between, eagerly pressing their lips together.

Despite herself, Lucy closed her eyes, reciprocating. All the warning signs in her brain faded out, leaving only the feeling that, somehow, everything they did together was inextricably right. She threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled him closer, enjoy his growls as she pulled at the tips of his pink locks.

Natsu obviously felt encouraged, as his hot tongue darted out, trying to persuade her to open up and find hers. Without hesitation, Lucy parted her mouth, eagerly letting him taste her, almost groaning as her own tongue slid over his, doing everything she could to savour and catalogue the taste.

Natsu's hands travelled south and, before she knew it, his warm, calloused palms were on her legs, hitching her dress up so he could feel the soft skin of her hips. When she did nothing to stop him, perhaps tugging on his hair in encouragement instead, he let his hands travel further, pushing under her dress until he was stroking the undersides of her breasts.

Lucy moaned unexpectedly and her eyes snapped open. Natsu pulled his lips from hers to reveal a large smirk, his iris' showing conflicting shades of black and yellow, like his mind was warring between his heart and his instinct. Lucy wasn't sure which one she wanted to win.

Before she could start thinking again, Natsu started planting kisses down her neck, scraping his teeth along her pulse point once in awhile, making her gasp. She knew the second his teeth touched her flesh that her life was in his hands; if he could bit Gray down to the bone then he could definitely kill her. But she trusted him and, somehow, the idea of being fully at his mercy made heat pool between her legs.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes, pushing her thighs together to try and relieve the tension. Natsu must have noticed the gesture, as he let out a soft chuckle against her skin which made her eyes snap open again.

He looked her straight in the eye, keeping her entranced, still smirking a little as his bit down on the flesh between her neck and shoulder. She bit her lip harder, wincing a little at the pain, but still not being able to tear her eyes away from his when he pulled his mouth away and cleaned the wound with his tongue, a gesture that only made her feel hotter.

He started kissing lower, growling when he reached the material that covered her chest. His hands slipped out from under her dress and he pulled away from her, tugging the dress over her head before she had any chance to stop him. She blushed furiously as she realised only a single piece of thin cloth over her crotch was covering her.

Natsu eyed her hungrily, watching intensely, greedily gulping in her image, burning it into his brain. She looked away, blushing harder when her eyes fell on the bulge in his pants, something that seemed to be getting more prominent the more he looked at her. She didn't know what to do, cover herself up or make a move to show him it was alright so, instead, she simply laid back, letting him observe her.

Before she could register it, he had, once again, pounced on her, ripping of his top before his lips teased the top of her right breast.

Lucy arched her back and moaned his name, not being able to stop herself, not caring how loud she was being; people were probably straying away from the tent anyway with Natsu's bad mood.

He growled approvingly as he left kiss marks on her creamy skin, sliding his tongue closer and closer to her nipple, his eyes coaxing her to moan again.

"Ahh, Natsu!" she breathed, the words rolling off her tongue like magic.

He smiled at her, obviously enjoying it when she called his name. He watched her intensely, distracting her so he could hear her call his name again as his tongue slipped over her pert nipple.

"Natsu!" she moaned as he swirled his tongue, softly nipping at random intervals.

Lucy didn't realise she could get even more turned on until he moved. He let one hand cup her left breast, teasing it as to not let it go neglected. With the other, he pulled her legs apart so he could settle in between them.

"Ahh" she cried, revelling in the amazing feeling as he grinded his crotch against hers, growling as she moaned.

He moved at lightning speed, pulling his mouth from her breast and moved back, ripping at the cloth that served as the last remaining barrier between them. Lucy gasped as he threw the thin material behind him and dived in between her legs, groaning as he breathed in heavily.

Lucy had never felt better in her life than the minute his tongue rolled over her clit.

"Natsu!" she shouted, a lot louder than she had meant to - maybe even loud enough for someone to hear - as he grabbed onto her thighs and lapped her up eagerly.

As he sucked and nibbled on her sensitive nub she could feel herself going over the edge. She grabbed at his hair, tugging at it mercilessly as encouragements rolled off her tongue.

"Don't stop! Oh god, you're amazing! I'm so close!" she cried, pushing her head back.

She moaned as she felt herself finish, feeling completely euphoric. She panted, out of breath as Natsu sat up, licking his lips but still looking hungry, the bulge straining his pants and obvious sign.

He gave her another intense look and a cocky grin before he stood up and shed the last of his clothes. Lucy gulped, sitting up to take in his perfectly chiselled form and suddenly feeling hot again. She bit her lips as she let her eyes wander down to his newly-uncovered erection and widened her eyes. It wasn't as if she had seen many men naked before but somehow he seemed _perfect_.

Natsu laughed at her reaction, looking ready to pounce again.

"Lucy?"

They both froze in their places.

"Lucy?" the voice came again.

They both knew that voice. Gray.

"Y-Yeah?" she replied, blushing furiously whilst Natsu looked more annoyed, and still ready to pounce.

"Are you okay? Someone thought they heard you shouting" he said in a worried voice.

She had been too loud.

"I'm fine. Natsu's just…" she looked over to him to see he had dropped into a crouch and was looking at her like a piece of meat, "He's just sleeping" she lied lamely.

"Oh, okay. Do you mind if I come in?"

"NO!" she shouted as she saw his hand move to open the tent flap. "I mean. I don't want you to get hurt again" she sighed, keeping an eye on Natsu, who seemed to be creeping closer and closer.

"I thought you said he was asleep" Gray said, sounding unsure, but he still made no move to go inside.

"Yeah but he was when Erza was in and he woke up to try and hurt her the minute she got inside" she explain, thanking the fact that she could use the truth.

"Oh, okay. That makes sense. As long as you're okay" he sighed.

"I promise I'm okay. Thanks for checking though" she said, giving a little smile, something which immediately set Natsu off into a growl.

"No worries" he replied.

"Maybe you should go now. Natsu's getting a bit antsy" she frowned.

"Yeah, sure" he said and true to his word, she could hear him walking away.

She sighed, lying on her back in relief, almost forgetting Natsu until she found him on top of her.

She might have been scared if it wasn't for the fact that he used her surprise to give her a needy kiss, making her eyelids flutter closed and her body light on fire again, his touch like gasoline.

His hands slid down to her waist, caressing the smooth skin, leaving a trail of burning desire everywhere he touched. She groaned into his mouth, letting his tongue slip in to meet hers.

Distracted by his talented tongue, Lucy didn't realised his hands had slipped lower until he had, once again, parted her legs and moved in between them. He pulled away from their kiss, eyeing her suspiciously before his hands moved back to her hips and, before she could even understand what he was about to do, he gripped her tight and slipped inside her, pushing himself all the way in, leaving her gasping and wincing at the fact that she was no longer pure.

Natsu groaned, throwing his head back, giving her a minute to let the throbbing pain stop before he moved. He buried his head in her breasts, kissing and sucking, leaving trails of kiss marks as he pushed in and out of her, getting faster and harder with every thrust.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried out as the euphoric feeling washed over her.

She felt like she was melting in his flames, completely under his control, and all she wanted was _more_. She grabbed readily at his back and tried her best to meet his thrusts, something which made him growl with pleasure, but, soon enough, his rough pounding was too fast for her and all that she could do was grip at him desperately and feel the bliss as he pushed her over the edge again.

He groaned, throwing his sweaty head back, scrunching his eyes shut as he gave her one final thrust before he released inside her and collapsed on top of her, rolling off her as they both tried to catch their breath in silence.

Lucy watch the tent roof, unsure what to say. It felt _god-damned amazing_ but she was slightly worried that the Natsu she had just given herself to was more the dragon half than the human half.

Just as she was about to let her fear overwhelm her, Natsu moved, placing his head on her belly and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Lucy" he muttered softly, kissing her belly with closed eyes.

Soon after he began snoring and she couldn't help but look at him with pure, unadulterated love.

Though, despite being utterly overwhelmed by his cuteness, she became grumpy rather quickly when she realised she was not able to move from his grip. She was naked, sweaty and cold and she had to wait for the stupid half-dragon to wake up before she could deal with any of those things.

She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to sleep despite the sneaking suspicion that she loved the idiot more that she had realised.

* * *

Natsu had had the best dream.

Hell, he would give anything for his dream to become a reality.

The last thing that he remembered was falling asleep on Lucy's lap but, for some reason, it was comfier than he remembered it. And she was smelling about a hundred times better than usual.

He breathed in heavily and snuggled deeper into the fabric of her dress. The fabric of her dress which, weirdly, felt more like skin then it did fabric.

His eye snapped open immediately and he wasn't sure if he should be ecstatic or worried. He lifted his head of a sleeping Lucy's stomach - a _naked_ sleeping Lucy's stomach - and pulled his arms away from her, trying not to wake her.

So his dream had been real.

He had just had sex with Lucy.

He growled at the sight of her, very much naked, sleeping form. Shit, he felt good. She was his. All his now. And the was nothing anyone - _especially Gray_ \- could do to take her away from him. He smirked, his eyes finding the bite mark he had left between her neck and shoulder.

He moved closer, frowning at the blood that was still left on her neck, moving his mouth towards it so he could clean it with his tongue. His heart ached at the idea of hurting her, but he could help the fact that it also swelled with pride at the fact that she was his. His mate. His partner.

He would be damned if he ever let her get away; he was her dragon and she was his princess and, despite knowing how selfish it was, he would keep her safe in her ivory tower forever.

* * *

 **I'm so glad I finally got this chapter finished! I have been working on it for weeks but I just hadn't had time to finish it. Thanks to everyone who has continually supported this story, I'm really excited to get it finished and I still have a few more things planned before the end comes.**

 **Hope it was a chapter worth waiting for!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

Lucy woke up with the feeling that she was being watched.

She groaned, knowing she had only had a few hours sleep, and unmuddled her brain to remember what happened.

She rubbed her eyes and opened them to reveal Natsu watching her curiously, sitting down with one knee up, an arm resting on it, still as naked as he had been a few hours ago. But this time he seemed completely back to normal.

They watched each other for a while, saying nothing.

His scales were gone, Lucy noted, and, upon further inspection, he looked very tired.

She shivered, like she finally had realised the cold in the room, and he seemed to snap out of his trance immediately, dashing across the room to pass her the bed cover. She took it gratefully, giving him a soft smile in return, wrapping around herself tightly.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but snapped it shut again, frowning at the floor.

"Do you feel better?" Lucy asked, trying to diffuse the thick tension between them.

His head raised to look at her, he seemed confused that she had talked and shook his head as if to wake himself.

"I'm just tired." he sighed, his shoulders slumping.

"Maybe you should go to bed?"

"Nah, not yet. I think I gotta apologise ta everyone." he sighed again, giving her a smile, though not his usual infectious grin.

He stood up, as if to leave, looking towards the door.

"Wait!" she shouted after him, causing him to turn back with a frown. "Um, maybe you should put some clothes on first!" she squeaked, her cheeks flushing.

He looked down, and blushed a little.

"Oh, er, yeah." he said nervously, scratching the back of his head.

She smiled a little before averting her eyes, unsure what their new code of conduct was now that they had done _that_. As much as Natsu could set her body on fire, she still felt a bit too bashful to outright stare at his manhood. Not that she didn't feel tempted. He was pretty glorious when he was naked.

He seemed to be watching her with a heated gaze. It made her shift uncomfortably and look down to realise the majority of the sheet she had covered herself with had slipped off, leaving little to the imagination. She bit her lip, pulling it back up, which seemed to snap him out of his daze.

She sat in silence and observed him. He swore when he looked down - her nakedness obviously still having a strong effect on him - and she tried not to giggle. He sighed, dragging his clothes off the ground and pulling them sloppily on, thanking the heavens when he realised he hadn't ripped anything.

After he was done dressing he walked back over to her, dropping down to sit cross-legged next to her, so close their arms were touching.

Even though he was dressed, the brush of fabric against the sensitive skin of her arm sent a wave of lust through her body that she was definitely not prepared for.

Natsu frowned, seemingly thinking hard, before his head raised to look her in the eyes.

Without any further hesitation, he kissed her. Lucy's eyes fluttered closed as she felt the familiar press of his lips on hers. She kissed back, relaxing into him, and opened her mouth to let out a contented sigh, letting Natsu take advantage of it to slide his tongue against hers.

Before Lucy realised what she had done, she had dropped the sheet covering her body in favour of twisting her fingers in Natsu's soft, pink hair.

His eyes snapped open for a second to assess what he had already guessed; she was now completely naked, and he growled.

Natsu pushed her to the floor, crawling on top of her with a renewed hunger in his eyes. His fingers slowly, _achingly_ , inching up from the skin on her hips to her breasts which were desperate to be touched.

He pulled his mouth away, only to replace it onto the skin of her neck, playing with the mark her had left on her.

Lucy let her eyes open, watching him with equal curiosity and desire.

"Lucy," he moaned. "Fuck, you're so gorgeous."

She swallowed, trying to resist the urge to push her thighs together and quell her aching core.

Natsu continued his slow ascent to her breasts, teasingly drawing circles with his thumbs, barely brushing the underside but, somehow, it got her hotter than if he went straight to them. She threw her head back and let out a small moan. He smirked, moving his kisses lower.

"Lucy?"

They stopped, hearing Gray's voice coming from behind the tent flap.

"Stupid, Gray. Such a fuckin' cock block." Natsu muttered under his breath moving away from Lucy so she could find her clothes.

She made a mad dash, just managing to put her dress on before Gray spoke again.

"Lucy?" he asked.

"Yeah!" she shouted, a bit too loudly not to be suspicious.

"Can I come in?" he asked, "How's the flamebrain?" he chuckled making Lucy smile.

Natsu let a small, low growl escape and narrowed his eyes at the door.

"Er, yeah, sure. He's fine now. Back to normal." she laughed.

Just before Gray stepped in, Lucy noticed her discarded underwear on the floor next to Natsu and realised that one, she had none on, and two, it would be pretty obvious what happened.

"Natsu!" she whispered harshly, pointing furiously.

He snapped his head around immediately and managed to snatch them up, unceremoniously - and rather unattractively -, shoving them in his trousers just as Gray walked in. The fast movement made Gray eye him suspiciously but he said nothing, simply assessing the room.

Lucy made sure to kneel down, leaving nothing to chance.

"What's with the weird atmosphere?" Gray scrutinised with a raised brow.

"What?! What are you talking about! Nothing weird is going on here!" Natsu squealed, rather unconvincingly.

"Why do I get the feeling Erza is gonna chop your balls off?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"What?" Natsu screamed in horror, covering his manhood.

Lucy bit her lip at the sight, trying to warn her brain to get over their previous activities. Natsu caught her looking, giving her an equally intense stare, as if he was promising they would continue later.

"What's that?" Gray asked, crossing his arms, his bandage was blaringly obvious.

"What's what?" Lucy asked, tearing her eyes away from Natsu.

"That weird look you just gave each other…" He frowned, "Wait! DID YOU JUST HA-"

"GRAY!" Natsu shouted, distracting him before Lucy blushed a deeper shade of red.

"What, loser?"

"Fuck. I'm sorry, okay?"

"What?"

"For biting you, okay?"

"Oh, right. No worries. Nice ta see ya back ta normal." Gray laughed.

"Yeah. I think I got it out of my system."

"I bet you did." Gray teased.

"Fuck off. Get out of my tent, ice prick." Natsu growled in reply.

"Yeah, yeah. You gonna apologise to Lucy?" he asked on his way out.

Natsu paused, frowning as he looked at his best friend/enemy.

"For what?" he replied in confusion.

"You bit her too." Gray snickered before making his exit, leaving Lucy redder than she had ever been in her life, slapping a hand over the bite mark on her neck.

* * *

Natsu really wanted to fuck Lucy.

Like, really really badly.

But, alas, after word got out that Natsu was back to normal, Erza 'convinced' them to move out of the tent so that he could issue his apologies. And, every time he tried to slip away with Lucy he was whisked into a conversation with someone else. That and Happy wouldn't leave his side.

He had a feeling it was probably the universe's version of payback as he had convinced Lucy to sleep with him when he wasn't in his right mind.

But he _needed_ to have her.

It was getting to the point where he was ready to throw her down on the table and take her in front of everyone.

The fact that Lucy was _still_ not wearing any underwear was really wreaking havoc with his resistance.

Despite putting so much effort into making sure her bite mark was covered - something he wasn't sure if he agreed with - she had _forgotten_ that she was naked under her dress.

And she was just leaning over the table talking to Levy. It would be so easy just to flip the back of the dress up and take her from behind…

Fuck, that sounded good.

He made his way over to her, already blanking out what Mira and Happy were saying to him, licking his lips.

Just once. Lucy would be okay with that, right?

Before he knew it he was right behind her, already starting to feel the strain in his pants. He put his hands on her hips, which made her jump and turn her head, sighing when she saw who it was. She had a smile in her eyes and opened her mouth to speak but stopped when she saw the heady look in his eyes. Her eyes widened a little and a small blush found its way to her cheeks.

His hands started inching down to find the end of her dress when he felt someone grab him. He let go of Lucy immediately and spun his head to look who it was. Gajeel took his hand off, assessing him with a look of disinterest.

"Why are you back?" Natsu asked.

"I smelt you on my turf. You know the dragon shit. That's not what matters here." Gajeel said.

They talked in low mutters, not wanting the girls to overhear their conversation.

"What does matter then?" Natsu scoffed, crossing his arms.

"You still fucking stink of pheromones." Gajeel said, wrinkling his nose. "That bunny girl too, but most those freaky dragon pheromones."

"What's that supposed ta mean?" he growled.

"It means you're still in heat, dumbass" Gajeel grumbled. "You can't jus' do it once an' expect it to be done, idiot."

"Fuck." Natsu swore, looking down, finding he was basically shoving his semi-hard on in Lucy's butt.

"I suggest you get away before you do something you regret." Gajeel warned. "I'm pretty sure chicks don't appreciate it if you do it in front of everyone" he let out a deep, rumbling laugh, huffing before he walked off with a single nod to Levy.

Natsu sighed, trying to shake of his hormones and hugged Lucy from behind, surprising her - and a suspicious Levy - again.

"N-Natsu?!" she squeaked.

"I need to leave." he complained, pouting like a child.

"Why?" she asked, he could picture her frowning as laid his head on her back.

"Cause I was about ta take you right there on the fuckin' table." He growled lowly, quiet enough for only her to hear.

He imagined her blush, smiling, until he smelt her body's reaction, growling instead. He let go of her marching over to the tent before she could get another word in.

He needed a cold bath, and he needed one now.

* * *

Lucy wasn't sure whether to be flattered or worried about the attention Natsu was giving to her. Either way, she was not paying attention to the conversation she was having. Especially when Natsu came back, shirtless with wet hair. Which she was pretty sure he had done just to torture her. That or he was too distracted to remember to dry himself, something she wouldn't be surprised by.

She watched intensely, captivated, as she saw droplets of water fall from his, obviously hastily dried, hair and travel down the contours of his chest until they met the top of his trousers.

She gulped, unsure as to when Natsu started looking so tasty to her.

Lucy never thought that she would ever really have much of a need for sexual satisfaction, but at that moment, she had never wanted anything so much. She bit her lip, dropping her head before Natsu's eyes could find hers.

"Lu?" Levy asked, snapping her fingers in front of her face.

Lucy immediately snapped out of her haze, letting her lip free of her teeth and trying to push her lust to the back of her mind. She could feel Natsu's heavy gaze on her though.

"Oh, yeah! Sorry!" Lucy said cheerily, trying to ignore the desire that was bubbling up inside her.

"Are you okay?" Levy asked with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, I'm just feeling a bit tired after all of the excitement today." Lucy sighed.

It wasn't technically a lie; she was a little tired and it _had_ been an exciting day. In more ways than one. But it still felt a little like a lie. Despite feeling bad, she forced a yawn anyway.

"Ah, okay." Levy smiled, obviously worrying that it had been other things. "Maybe you should just go to bed early then." she spoke, giving Lucy the perfect outing.

"Yeah, maybe you're right." Lucy said, convincingly sleepily.

"Night." Levy smiled and walked to Natsu's tent with her. "If you need anything, just call." she promised.

"Thanks, Levy." Lucy replied with a soft smile, before diving into her tent and collapsing on the gratifyingly warm bed sheets.

Maybe she was tired after all…

"Lucy?" Natsu called from outside the tent.

She shot up instantly, all ideas of going to sleep instantly leaving her head.

"Yeah?" she asked, as he stepped into the tent, still half naked.

His hair was completely dry now, making her think that he had definitely only kept it wet to purposely tease her; she knew he could dry himself with his fire, he had done it before in front of her.

"You goin' to bed or somethin'? I saw you leavin' and I jus' wanted to know if you're alright." he said, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a little tired I guess." she sighed.

"You sure?" he asked, making her frown.

"What do you mean?"

"Well ya don't look tired to me." he said, making her flush.

"What do I look like?" she asked, gulping loudly.

"Like ya wanna finish what we started before Gray came in." he replied, stepping closer to her. "If you need my...help, all you have to do is ask." he assured her with a cocky grin.

"Oh." she said simply, watching him with an avid interest as he inched closer and closer towards her.

"So," he said, kneeling down beside her, his lips only inches away. "Are you gonna ask?" his voice was deep and raspy, Lucy bit her lip, trying to ignore the heat that was inching up her thighs.

Before he could get another word in, feeling bold, Lucy closed the distance between their lips, watching him raise an amused brow before her eyelids fluttered closed.

Natsu growled, kissing her back with a fierceness she was finding hard to match. She threaded her fingers in his hair and pulled at the strands roughly, causing him to push her onto the floor, letting his hands find their way to her breasts; wasting no time.

Lucy pulled away from their heated kiss to gasp as his thumbs found her nipples, which were quickly hardening under the thin fabric of her dress. Natsu gave a quick kiss to her bite mark before letting his lips wander down to her cleavage, drawing circles on the creamy skin with his hot tongue.

"Natsu!" she moaned, arching her back towards him.

He seemed to take her appreciation as an invitation, as he pulled his lips away from her only to - without her permission - rip her dress right down the middle, looking at her with a cocky smile and lustful eyes.

Lucy's eyes widened, she was unsure if she was more mad or turned on, either way, both feelings ended in her grabbing his trousers to rip the fabric in retaliation. He raised an eyebrow, an amused look on his face and proceeded to throw his trousers off.

"If you wanted them off, you coulda jus' said." he teased and placed his lips over her hardened nipple.

"You rip mine, I rip yours." she replied, unable to keep her voice even, grabbing at the back of his head as he bit down softly.

"I didn't want them on anyway." he muttered against her skin, his hands wandering down to push her thighs apart, settling himself in between them.

She couldn't help but moan as he pressed his hardened length against her quickly-moistening centre. Her breathing became more ragged the more he teased her; rubbing himself against her until she was too worked up to care how loud she was being.

"Lucy." he growled against her skin, kissing a path down her stomach.

"Natsu!" she breathed back as he found her sensitive nub, sucking and biting until she was writhing beneath him. "Don't stop!" she cried as he worked her faster and harder, sneakily letting two fingers slip in between her legs so he could feel her silky insides.

She reached oblivion as soon as he curled his fingers, panting and tugging on his hair for dear life. Pleased with his work, he slipped his fingers out of her and kneeled above her as he sucked them clean, grinning at her blushing face.

Lucy laid her head back and closed her eyes, trying to regain her strength, finding that she really was a tired as she looked. But before she had a chance to drift of, Natsu gave her another heated kiss and whispered in her ear.

"We're not done yet." he promised, making her heart race and a familiar warmth settle between her legs.

They were not done by a long shot.

* * *

Natsu was wide awake.

Though his body was now satisfied enough to get some rest, he couldn't sleep.

Lucy was resting peacefully beside him, curled up to his side, and he held onto her as if she was going to slip away. She looked beautiful, ethereal. He smiled, his heart swelling at the idea that she was his. That she _wanted him_.

Despite feeling the most at peace he had in a long time, he still couldn't sleep; his mind was reeling. Not because he had just found his dream girl. Not because he had just mated for life. It was because of what he knew he had to do next.

He frowned, watching the roof of the tent, shuffling under their bed covers.

He looked over to Happy's bed. The cat had found its way in, luckily, once they had finished, and went straight to bed without a single snarky comment about the fact that they were both naked in bed together.

Natsu sighed, knowing that, in the morning, there would be a lot of explaining to do. Gajeel was back, which meant that, by now, everyone knew that he was sleeping with Lucy. Not that they wouldn't have known anyway by how loud she was screaming his name. The thought made him smile. He liked pleasing her.

He looked back over to the girl sleeping in his arms and gave her a short, sweet kiss on her head. He really wanted to go for a long walk and get some time to think, but the idea of leaving her - even for just an hour - was more than he could deal with.

He was hopelessly in love with her, something which he had very much noticed since he had lost his scales. He was, as subtly as he could, following her around like a lost puppy. Natsu had never thought he would be the type of guy that liked to cuddle - despite how childish he acted - but the second he had fallen asleep with Lucy so close, he knew he would never be able to sleep without her again.

He held her a little tighter. He didn't think he was good enough for her; he was a mess. He was childish, brash, easy to anger and worst of all he had _kidnapped her_. It made him more scared than he wanted to admit. He knew he couldn't live without her now.

Natsu let out another long sigh, rolling over in the bed so he could press their bodies flush together, burying his head in her sweet smelling hair.

He closed his eyes and tried to will his brain to stop thinking.

He had accepted it now.

He had to find Igneel. And he had to do it fast.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Sorry the chapters have been taking so long, I have literally been working on this for about a week but I have been more busy than I thought I would be. I am trying to update as quickly as possible, so I will do my best to get more out!**

 **For those of you who read _Just Like The Stories_ I have not forgotten it! I have just been having a bit of writers block but its next on my long list of things to do :)**

 **Thanks for all the amazing support for this story, you guys are the best! :)**


	15. Rust - Special Chapter

**Here's a special GaLe chapter to celebrate the fact that this story just reached over 200 follows! Thank you so much to everyone who had been supporting this! I hope you enjoy the special story! :)**

* * *

 **Rust**

Gajeel sat of the pile of scrap metal, located just outside the Fairy Tail camp, as he had been doing for the better half of a week.

It wasn't that he particularly liked the Fairies. He just liked their scrap metal. And the weird blue-haired chick that dumped it once a week wasn't too bad either.

He was, though he would doubtlessly deny it, sulking.

He had left everything he knew on one god-dammed gut feeling and now he was back to being alone. At least he wasn't with those Phantom Lord shitheads.

He leaned back and watched the sky, absently chewing on a broken iron pole, thinking about everything that had happened. He didn't regret leaving those assholes, but he definitely wished that he had taken Juvia with him.

If Metalicana could see him now, he would be so fucking pissed. Or worse - _disappointed._

"I see you've made yourself at home on that scrap heap."

Gajeel sat up and turned to the voice with narrowed eyes. He saw a rather small, old man, with white hair and wise eyes.

"What's it to you?" Gajeel scoffed, looking over the man's appearance with calculating, steel gaze.

"Well, it's my scrap heap." the man said, testing the waters.

"Scrap aint nobody's to claim." Gajeel grunted in reply, taking another pointed bite of his pole.

"You're more clever than you look" the man praised with curious, sparkling eyes.

"What's it to you?" he asked.

"I thought, seeing as you're already so close, you might consider joining us. Fairy Tail that is."

Gajeel let out a long sigh and went back to lying down, knowing how the conversation would end. It had happened a lot before he had finally settled down with Phantom Lord.

Then that stupid blonde bunny had to ruin it all. Not that it was really her fault, but he liked having someone to blame.

"No one wants a man like me in their tribe. I've done things even the heavens won't forgive me for." he explained.

"I know who you are, Black Steel Gajeel. Don't presume I don't know the people who walk around my home, interact with my children. Perhaps you will never be forgiven for what you have done. I know that if you had done the same to one of my own, I would never be able to forgive you in my heart. But forgiveness is not what I'm offering, child. I am offering sanctity. A second chance. I believe we all deserve that, at least." he offered a small smile, waiting for Gajeel's reaction.

Gajeel was shocked to say the least. He sat up again, his eyes finding the man's. He was genuine, Gajeel could tell.

Never before in his life had Gajeel felt like crying. Not even when his father left him. But the words that he had just been given were enough to stir that feel inside. Though he would never let a single drop escape.

"Are you sure?" he asked, wondering if it was too good to be true.

"I keep my word." the man assured him.

"Then I think I'll take your offer."

"There is one condition."

"Then I'll agree to it." Gajeel scoffed and the man smiled.

"I thought you'd say that."

* * *

Despite now being a fully fledged Fairy, Gajeel seemed to find himself in a very similar situation to the one he was in a week prior.

He was sitting outside his newly assigned tent, an unimpressed look on his face, watching all of his new comrades or - as Makarov liked to put it - ' _friends_ ' nervously avoid his gaze. Nobody even had the guts to keep eye contact.

Well everyone except that god-dammed Salamander.

"Yo! Metal face!" Natsu shouted, making a beeline for his tent.

Stupid fucking Salamander.

"What do you want?" he grunted, unimpressed by the guy's eagerness.

"You're scary enough to get Levy off my back, right?" he asked, snickering at the insult, moving to duck behind Gajeel's chair.

"Go play somewhere else." he deadpanned, though he had sat a little straighter the minute he had heard her name.

Levy.

That girl. The one other person who wasn't afraid of him. Well, at least that was what he had believed. But the girl hadn't spoken to - or even looked at, for that matter - him since he joined the tribe. He let a deep frown work its way onto his features.

"Fuck! She's coming over!" Natsu whispered harshly.

Gajeel's eyes immediately found their way over to the angry, huffing - but doubtlessly, still beautiful - bluenette who was stomping towards him. He let his eyes widen a little at the sight, but refused to admit the fact that his heart rate had picked up the pace.

He crossed his arms, setting his usual scowl on his face, trying to act as nonchalantly as possible. Not that it was for her or anything.

"Salamander's pissin' himself behind my chair." he stated gruffly, as soon as she was in earshot.

She paused, the anger momentarily leaving her face as she looked at him, a small blush replacing it until she caught sight of Natsu trying to make an escape.

Not wanting to let himself get flustered, he smoothly grabbed Natsu by his scarf, not letting him get away. Partly because he wanted to impress her, partly because he wanted to see the idiot suffer.

"Natsu Dragneel!" she roared, placed her hands on her hips, the angry scowl re-placed on her face.

Natsu slumped in his hold, knowing he was caught.

"Oh, er, Hi Levy...were you looking for me?" he squealed in a pathetic attempt to feign innocence.

"Don't you dare try to pull that puppy dog face on me. You're not fooling anyone. Go back right now and apologize before I let Erza kick your ass." she threatened.

Gajeel let a small smile grace his lips, a dark chuckle rumbling in his throat. The sound went mostly ignored bar the small blush of Levy's face.

"OKAY, Okay!" Natsu shouted, putting his hands up in defeat. "But I didn't exactly do what everyone thought I did." he grumbled.

Gajeel decided it was time to let him go, knowing that, under the threat of the devil woman, he was more than likely to comply.

"Mira said you called Lisanna ugly." Levy accused with narrowed eyes.

"I didn't say that!" he promised, a little too desperately for Gajeel's liking.

"What did you say then?" Levy asked, her curious mind getting the better of her.

"I jus' said I didn't find her attractive." he explained.

"That sounds like the same thing." Levy huffed.

"No, it's not!" he swore, "Jus' cause I don't find her attractive doesn't mean she aint pretty."

Levy paused, thinking about his answer for a minute before formulating a proper reply.

"I guess you're right. But I still think you should apologize. Or at least explain it to Lisanna so Erza doesn't castrate you." she suggested.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." he sighed, walking back over to where he came from, leaving Levy and Gajeel alone.

Levy turned around to leave, giving Gajeel the chance to let out a loud sigh, but then she paused. He watched her clench her fists by her side before she turned back around, red in the face.

"Thanks for all your help, Gajeel!" she semi-shouted, he smiled, almost sighing again at the sweet sound of his name rolling off her tongue.

"No worries, Shrimp." he said, not knowing better than to tease her.

She dashed off with a still red face as soon as their conversation was over, dazzling him into a comfortable silence, a smile resting on his lips.

And suddenly he looked so much more approachable.

* * *

"GAJEEL!"

He turned around and nearly had a heart attack. And then he thought he was having a hallucination.

Juvia.

"GAJEEL! IT'S JUVIA!" The girl shouted from across the river.

Trying to remain cool, he walked over to greet her, despite the fact that his heart wanted him to run. He really missed his friend.

"Yo, Crazy chick. How're ya doin'?" he smiled despite himself.

"Juvia is doing fine! How are you Gajeel? Juvia missed you when you left. Juvia tried to find you but she couldn't." she promised.

He couldn't help the relief that flooded him. She was okay. He didn't have to feel guilty any more. Maybe Metalicana wouldn't be that disappointed after all.

"I'm good, Juvia. I joined the Fairy tribe. It aint too bad there, maybe you should join us. You could make some friends there an' stuff." he said, not wanting to sound too eager.

"Juvia would love that, but Juvia already joined another tribe." she frowned, the let down making him do the same. "But Juvia would very much like if she could she Gajeel again. Juvia misses her friend."

"I guess it couldn't hurt." he said, despite the excitement that bubbled up inside him at the fact that maybe he wouldn't be so alone.

"That makes Juvia very happy to hear!" she smiled excitedly. "Juvia has to go, but she will be here at the same time every week if Gajeel ever decides to turn up."

He watched her walk away and let a cocky grin escape. No one was around so it was alright for him to be happy for once.

"I-Is she your g-girlfriend or something?"

He span around to find Levy standing awkwardly behind him. He spent a moment both surprised and rather satisfied by her presence before the words sank in.

"W-WHAT?! NO! SHE AINT...I mean. She's jus' my friend from when I was in Phantom…" he desperately tried to regain his composure but the puppy dog eyes she was giving him were seriously wreaking havoc with his heart.

"Oh!" Levy squealed. "So...so...so you don't have a girlfriend or anything?" she asked quietly, but his dragon ears found the heart stopping sentence impossible not to hear.

"Nah." he scratched the back of his head, a small blush forming on his cheeks. A sensation he was most definitely _not_ used to. "Not like any girl is gonna like me anyways." he promised.

She frowned at his words and stormed over to him.

"You may have done bad things, Gajeel, but that doesn't mean you're a bad person. So stop throwing a pity party and realise that any girl would be lucky to have you!" she snapped, stabbing him in the chest with a pointed finger throughout her speech.

She breathed in a sharp breath before her brain registered what he just done and she jumped back, blushing and stuttering.

He couldn't stop himself from laughing. Only she would have the guts to tell him all that.

She scowled at him, obviously assuming he was making fun of her.

"You aint half bad, Shrimp. I gotta say, it takes alotta guts ta say that to a guy like me." he smiled, a little more lovingly than he meant to. "You're a pretty bad ass chick, ya know?" he laughed again, watching her astonished face.

"You really think so?" she asked, looking away with the fairies.

"Maybe more badass than that bunny chick." he commented, despite knowing she wouldn't understand.

Although she had no idea what he was talking about, she smiled anyway.

And that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

And an endless romance.

* * *

"Gajeel?" Levy asked as she sat down next to him to eat her breakfast.

"Yeah?" he grumbled, his eyes finding that hers were pointed to Natsu and Lucy sitting at the bar.

"Do you remember when I found you at the river that day?" she asked, turning her eyes to look at him.

"Yeah, why?" he replied, wondering what she was scheming.

Why did he fall in love with such a fucking genius?

"What did you mean when you said 'Maybe more badass than that bunny chick'?" she asked.

He dropped his cutlery. He knew she was going to work that one out eventually. He should have gotten out of the habit of calling the blonde chick 'bunny girl'.

"Because you call Lucy 'Bunny girl'" she added, as if she was reading his mind.

Gajeel trained his eyes on Natsu and Lucy's animated conversation and sighed.

"I think that's a story for another day. She aint gonna appreciate it if I tell you the bunny story." he grumbled, looking back at Levy.

He almost caught himself before he could smile, but he let it escape. The one he got in response was well worth it.


	16. Chapter 15

**I'M FINALLY BACK! Sorry for the stupidly long wait, I have had a very busy time of late but I am going to try to update as often as possible now that the chapter _is finally_ finished! I made it an extra long one since its been so long! Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifteen**

When Natsu woke up in the morning he finally felt completely human again. That humming need to constantly procreate was eased and he could watch the woman in his arms without the incessant need to fill her to the brim. That was not to say it wasn't still tempting, nor had the aching in his crotch completely subsided. But he could smile and her, nuzzle into her neck and give her loving kisses and nips and feel completely content. And he did just that.

He languidly licked over his claiming mark, which seemed to be healing nicely - though it was far from fading - until she started to stir. When her eyelids started fluttering awake he leaned over her so he would be the first - and only - thing she saw when she woke up. Looking into her warm, brown eyes, he felt his heart race.

She gave him the biggest grin he had ever seen before she softly kissed him on the lips. Though she meant it as a short, loving, morning kiss, Natsu was not so eager to let her go; pressing his lips more forcibly against hers until her head rested back on the bed.

He lazily drew his tongue from his mouth, swiping it over her lips until she let him slip inside; his tongue dancing with hers in a morning greeting. Her taste was just as divine as it was last night and he quickly found himself draping his body over hers, pressing closer.

Maybe his dragon side wasn't as responsible for his lust as he thought.

As soon as he realised just how much he wanted to fuck her of his own volition, it was like putting fuel to the fire; he couldn't stop himself.

His hands wandered up her sides to her bountiful breasts, filling his hands with them, enjoying the skin that spilled through the gaps between his fingers, squeezing and toying with them until she pulled away from his lips to moan, throwing her head back.

He watched her with his heated gaze, satisfaction curling in his belly from her flushed cheeks and panting breaths. As soon as he felt she was pent up enough, his hands traced the sensitive skin around her pert nipples, teasing her with a cocky smile. When she looked like she was going to scream from the frustration, he finally drew his fingers to her pink tips, lowering his mouth to the side of her left breast to take over the job of his thumb.

Her ragged breaths sent the blood straight to his crotch, he could feel his length pulsing, almost painfully, ready to seek her warmth. His dark eyes swirled with lust as he let his free hand roam down to her centre and, without any warning, he plunged two fingers deep inside her, knowing she was already wet and ready for him.

"Natsu!" she cried out, desperately grabbing at his shoulders, gripping him so hard that her nails bit into his skin.

He replied with a satisfied growl against her breast, sucking to show his delight, then giving small nips to her peak. His fingers quickly found their pacing, pushing in and out ruthlessly, as if he would die without her soft mewls and sharp breaths. He bit harder on her breast, feeling an overwhelming need to mark her, almost snarling into her skin, curling his fingers so she would feel the perfect mix of pleasure and pain. She cried his name at her release and his could feel the rewarding warm liquid coating his finger, which he quickly drew to his mouth, lapping up as much of her sweet nectar as he could.

If he was going to find Igneel, he needed to make the most of his time with her, memorising every inch of her body and all the ways he could make her cry out.

Natsu kneeled and took in the sight of Lucy's limp body, growling in satisfaction, burning every inch of her pleasure and her soft, sweet body into his brain to save for the lonely nights he had ahead.

As soon as he caught her hooded gaze he pounced on her again, mashing their lips together, trying to convey all of his love and lust and thankfulness that he had her. She tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled his body down to meet hers, his erection pressing against the passage of her heated sex, something he definitely appreciated.

Distracted the second Lucy opened her mouth to let his tongue explore, he didn't notice her hand snaking down in between them until he felt her small, soft hands wrap around his member.

"Ah!" he breathed sharply, pulling away from their kiss, shutting his eyes and pressing his forehead against hers.

"I want to touch you," she said lowly before kissing him deeply again.

He was not going to complain.

Her hands stroked his shaft lazily, teasing him with a gentle grip and the odd brush of his tip. He found it hard to concentrate on kissing her, letting her take the lead as he gasped against her lips.

Just as he was about to snap at her to stop playing, she gripped him properly, rubbing his length against her soaked entrance, coating him in her wetness until he shivered with pleasure. It took everything he had not to push inside her when she teased the end of his shaft at her entrance, but he resisted, letting her be in control.

"There's a good dragon," she cooed, half thankfully, half mockingly.

He growled in reply but let her continue her work.

Now that he was well lubricated she held him tighter, just the right amount of pressure, and worked her hand up and down, he squeezed his eyes shut tighter and moaned, breaking their kiss as he was finding it hard to breathe. Her wrist gained speed and soon enough he was feeling ready to burst but he growled, snatching her hand away, enjoying the whine she let out in protest.

He lowered his mouth next to her ear and spoke. "I'm going to fuck you now, Lucy."

She gasped and he gave her a wicked grin before lowering himself between her legs and, without warning, pushed inside her, right to the hilt. He groaned at her welcoming tightness, a warmth only he knew. He quickly found his rhythm, pushing into her harder and faster than he thought he could, pounding her vigorously enough that the sound of slapping skin was deafening and his and his balls almost ached with the pressure.

"Natsu!" she cried, chanting his name in time with his thrusts.

"Lucy! Fuck, you feel so good!" he grunted gripping onto her hips with a bruising pressure.

He drew himself up to his knees - refusing to part with her as he went - throwing her legs over his shoulder to get a better angle, refusing to get worn out as he pistoned into her growling at the gratifying sound of wet flesh coming together.

Ignoring the tight coil that threatened his undoing, he pressed on, finding the best angle to fill his ears with Lucy's mewls.

"Ahh! Natsu! Don't stop!" she moaned, clawing at his back. If it weren't for his complete focus on making her feel better than she ever had before - worshipped like the goddess she was - he would have given her a cocky smile.

This time was more desperate than the other times he had fucked her. He _needed_ to make her feel good. He _needed_ her to feel the extent of his love for her. He was a man that had always been better at actions than words, so he pushed himself to his limit as he slammed into her, pulling out to the tip so she could actively feel the loss of him, so she would _ache_ for him when he was gone. He wanted to brand her as his, inside and out, heart and soul, forever. This was the only way he knew how.

He dipped his head, capturing her lips just in time to swallow the scream she let out as she came. He growled again and bit her bottom lip, pulling it towards him, persuading her to kiss him back. She did just that, slipping her tongue into his open mouth, swirling it around his, as if to mix their tastes.

This time, when that coil threatened to spill him again, he let go pounding into her vigorously for three more thrusts before he filled her so completely his seed spilled out around their joined flesh. He gave her one last hearty kiss before he pulled away, slipping himself out of her, and collapsing, thoroughly spent, beside her on their bed.

He panted, trying to catch his breath, his limbs warmed with a satisfying ache of a good job done.

"Wow…" Lucy panted beside him, shuffling up so she could rest her head on his chest. He quickly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer despite his protesting muscles.

"Yeah," he agreed, not really knowing if there was anything else to say.

"I'm in love with you." she said, so quietly he wasn't sure, at first, if it was just in his head or not.

He looked down at her and saw her head buried in his chest and knew she had spoken. He swallowed thickly, completely speechless. _She loved him_. She loved _him_. His heart felt full to bursting as he turned to the side to press their bodies closer together, face to face, skin to skin. She looked up at him slowly, her face red, her eyes unsure.

He sighed and waited a moment, to gather the right words, before he spoke.

"I love you more than anything, Lucy. I would do anything for you. Live and die for you. I don't think I could ever live without you now and I would go to hell and back to get you. And I know I'm a monster, I kidnapped you, stole you away and kept you. I'm half-dragon and I would kill anybody who touched you; I'd never let you be happy with anyone else. But I love you and I'll give you everything I've got. Even if it's not enough, I'll give you everything." He held her close as he spoke, needing her to hear every word he said.

Her features morphed into a shocked expression and, for a minute, she did nothing but breathe and look at him with wide eyes. And then she did the one thing Natsu was more scared of than anything else in the universe; she cried.

The panic set in immediately and he held her closer, stroking her back soothingly.

"Shit, Lucy, I'm sorry…" he swore.

"Shut up, idiot!" she snapped through her sobs, making him wince.

He opened his mouth to apologise to her again but she looked up at him with an angry expression and punched him in the chest.

"Don't say the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me then apologise, stupid!" she cried.

He was about to apologise again, automatically, until her words sunk in and he snapped his jaw shut, cuddling her closer.

"I really love you, Weirdo…" he said affectionately, smiling into her hair.

"I love you too, Idiot." she mumbled into his chest.

"GAHH! WHY ARE YOU GUYS CUDDLING NAKED?!" Happy screamed behind them. "MY EYES!"

Natsu sighed. If there was one thing his little buddy was good at doing, it was ruining a moment.

"HAPPY!" Lucy growled, struggling in Natsu's grip, trying to grab for the cheeky cat.

"Lucy, you might want to put some clothes on before you murder my cat," he sighed.

She stopped moving and turned bright red and Natsu couldn't help but snickering; he was still a child at heart.

"I HATE YOU BOTH!" she snapped as she grabbed up her clothes. "TURN AROUND AND WAIT FOR ME TO KILL YOU!"

Happy did as he was told but Natsu ignored her, deciding to use the time to pull on his clothes as well. He smiled. Life was pretty much perfect at that moment.

* * *

As soon as Lucy walked into the food tent whistling in pure joy, people started looking at her strangely. She was all smiles as she sat down and asked Mira for breakfast for two. The barmaid raised her eyebrow but said nothing.

She could hear the low hum of gossiping behind her, no doubt about the fact that her and Natsu were sleeping together - she wasn't really expecting to get away with it after he made her scream as loud as she did. She really couldn't bring herself to care though.

She happy. Unbelievably happy. No amount of annoying blue cats or gossiping could bring her down. She felt invincible.

She gave a beaming smile, waiting for both her food and her...friend? boyfriend? Lover? Her Natsu. He apparently wanted to have a 'talk' with Happy about sleeping arrangements and how naked cuddling would be on the menu for the foreseeable future.

When Mira walked over with two plates of food in hand she gave another big smile and thanks before digging in. She didn't finish one mouthful before Mira couldn't contain herself any longer.

"So you and Natsu are having sex." she said sweetly.

Lucy spat out her food.

"Oi! Luce! Don't waste food! If ya don't want it, I'll have it!" Natsu said, sauntering in, obviously ignoring Mira's statement.

Lucy groaned. Okay, maybe she could deal with anything but two things at once. She grumbled incoherently before taking another mouthful. Watching Natsu take a seat beside her, digging into his own food, she couldn't help but smile, his words echoing in her head. She felt a warmth spread in her heart as she watched him.

He was on seconds by the time she finished eating, smiling like an idiot as she caught his eye. He dropped his plate, wiping his face before swiftly pulling her into a quick but loving kiss. They both smiled at each other as the room went silent.

Mira, as usual, was the first to break. She let out an almighty squeal and clapped her hands together.

"Aww, man! So I did walk in on you guys trying to get freaky!" Gray complained from his seat.

"You're the cockblock, ice pants!" Natsu snapped in return, causing Lucy to blush.

"Sorry if I thought nobody would ever want to have sex with an idiot like you!" Gray replied smugly, making Lucy's blush deepen. Natsu got up off his chair.

"At least I'm getting some, loser!" he growled.

"Is someone trying to start a fight?" Erza asked, getting out of her seat.

"No!" both the boys squealed, Gray dropping down in his seat.

Natsu scowled at him but ultimately retreated back to Lucy, wrapping an arm around her waist. Erza nodded, seemingly happy with her job before walking up to them. Natsu, though she knew he would deny it, was shaking a little but growling all the same, until Erza smiled. She was at them in a few strides and crushing them against her armour in a hug.

"I'm so happy for you!" she cheered.

"Thanks, Erza!" they squeaked in unison before she let them go.

Soon enough half the camp had joined on the conversation. Happy had flown in not too long after Erza set them free and had seated himself on Lucy's lap much to Natsu's chagrin.

Once most of the excitement had died down - Natsu had, halfway through, decided to hide his head in Lucy's neck - Levy had dragged Gajeel up to them. Levy gave her a wide smile whilst Gajeel just seemed a little bored. Natsu pulled his head out from Lucy's neck and sighed when he saw the crowd has dispersed.

"Lu! Hey, congrats and all!" she said with a large smile, nudging Gajeel in the side when he said nothing.

"Yeah, yeah. Well done with taming the idiot, bunny girl." Gajeel said begrudgingly.

"HEY!" Natsu complained and then frowned. "Bunny girl?" he asked.

Gajeel grinned knowingly and Lucy went bright red.

"Ya see me 'n Lucy go way back before I joined to guild," Gajeel teased with his evil smile. Lucy groaned. "An' I jus' so happened to see when her old man set up an engagement for her with this old geezer…"

Lucy's heart stopped. He wasn't really going to tell them was he?

"But this guy had a kink, ya see? So her old man got this made specially for her a-"

"STOP!" Lucy cried, "Please." she added desperately, looking down so she didn't have to see Natsu's reaction.

She felt a hand on her head and looked up to find it belonged to Gajeel.

"Don't worry, bunny girl. I aint gonna tell 'em. You got me on your side, remember?" he smiled.

Lucy sighed and, when she nodded, Gajeel took his hand off her head and slung his arm over Levy's shoulders.

Lucy smiled. Although there was a terrible memory linked with that name, there was also a good one. Natsu pressed a small, reassuring kiss to her temple but she had no doubt he was still curious to know what happened.

"You knew Lucy before Fairy Tail?" Levy asked, looking up at Gajeel. His eyes hardened and he simply nodded in reply.

"He was the one decent guy in Phantom Lord, the people who attacked my guild." Lucy said, and Gajeel laughed and shook his head. Levy smiled.

"I knew you weren't the big bad you want to make yourself out to be!" Levy chimed, giving him a smile full of affection. He returned it, but his eyes were still a little dark. Lucy decided to leave out they way they first met.

"Oi, Salamander!" Gajeel said, turning his head to Natsu. "We need to have a little chat. Alone."

Natsu looked over to Lucy, who nodded, before pulling away from her and walking off with Gajeel, leaving Lucy, Levy and Happy.

Mira, who had obviously been eyeing them from the bar, goaded Happy away with the promise of fish. Levy took the opportunity to steal Natsu's seat next to her.

"So you finally got together!" Levy said with a smile.

"Yeah," Lucy replied with a blush.

"I'm assuming this happened before you told me you wanted to tell him you loved him yesterday?" she asked with a mischievous grin.

"It happened when he was still in his dragon mode." Lucy confessed.

"I knew it! I'm happy for you, Lu. You seem great together." she said with a smile.

"Thanks, how's it going with Gajeel?"

"Slow but steady. He's still under some stupid notion that he's not good enough for me, so he holds back a little but I'll win him over!" she huffed determinedly.

"Go, Levy!" Lucy cheered.

"So...seeing as I'm your best friend I think it's only fair you tell me the details first." Levy said with a wink.

"Levy!"

"Oh, come on, Lu! We're all wondering!"

"Fine! But don't go letting the whole guild know this time! No more telling Mira things!" she pouted.

"I promise, I promise! Now tell me what he's hiding under those trousers!" Levy squealed making Lucy blush.

She looked around, checking the coast was clear, before leaning in to Levy's ear and whispering a single word.

"Mammoth."

Levy gasped.

"NO WAY!" she cried, a few guild members turning around at her outburst.

Lucy nodded.

"Go, Lu!" Levy cheered, quieter than before as not to gain the interest of any earwiggers. "So does he know how to use it?" she asked quietly.

"Most definitely." Lucy replied smugly.

"Go, Lu, for sure!" Levy giggled.

"He also told me he loved me this morning!" Lucy squealed, not being able to retain herself. Levy immediately hugged her.

"That's amazing!" she cheered.

"What's amazing?" Natsu asked as he strolled back into the tent with Gajeel. Damn his good hearing.

"None of your business. It's girl talk." Levy replied, pulling away from Lucy and stuck out her tongue.

"Careful, you don't want to get that bitten off," Gajeel teased her, she quickly replaced her tongue in her mouth and scowled at him.

Levy got up of the seat next to Lucy and said goodbye. Walking over to Gajeel, they departed with a nod.

Natsu sighed as he walked up to Lucy and gave her a sweet, longing kiss. When he pulled back his face looked serious, his mouth drawn in a hard line. Lucy frowned, a bad feeling eeking its way through her system.

"We need to talk." He said, his serious expression remaining. Her heart stopped and she felt an awful dropping sensation in her stomach.

"About what?" she asked, still frowning.

"Not here." he replied. "Let's go back to the tent"

She tried not to look terrified as he led her back to the tent. She felt tears welling up when he didn't even bother to hold her hand like he usually did.

Didn't he just tell her he loved her? Did he not mean it? Her mind was reeling. She stopped following him a meter before they got to the tent and couldn't help it when a few tears escaped. She saw him stop when he realised she wasn't following him and turn around. His eyes widened and he ran up to her immediately, gathering her up in his arms.

"Why are you crying, Weirdo?" he asked, exasperated.

He held her close kissing the side of her head and rubbing her back soothingly.

"You don't want me!" she cried into his shoulder.

"Where did you get that idea?" he asked, holding her tighter.

"You said you wanted to _talk_!" she sobbed.

"Yeah, about mating for life, Weirdo! Geez, I thought you were 'sposed to be clever, Luce!" he complained.

Lucy pulled away from him.

"Mating for life?" she asked, barely more than a whisper.

"Yeah," he confessed turning bright red, wiping the last of the tears out of her eyes with his thumbs. "I thought I already told you that I aint gonna let no-one else have ya!" he laughed and gave her a heart-warming smile.

"You're an idiot, but I love you." She replied.

"So is that a yes?" he asked, raising his brows.

"You even have to ask?"

"I'm gonna hide you away and never let another man see you," he said affectionately before kissing her hard.

"I don't think I agreed to that!" she frowned.

"I'm gonna do it anyway," he replied, nuzzling her cheek. She sighed, having the feeling that she had lost the battle.

"So was that 'the talk' we had to have?" she asked, interrupting his nuzzling. He paused and pulled back, the hard expression back on his face.

"No," he said simply. "Let's get into the tent. It's best to talk about this before Happy gets back."

Lucy nodded, still feeling uneasy, and followed him back into the tent. She sat down and he dropped down opposite her.

"I'm sure you've heard by now that my dad is a dragon," he said and she nodded. "Well his name is Igneel and he's a fire dragon." Lucy nodded again. "When I was a kid, Igneel taught me a lot about what it meant to be a dragon, an' a half-dragon. I didn't understand alotta the stuff then, especially when he said he had ta leave. See the thing with dragons is that they only get one mate and when that person dies...well let's jus' say it's not easy to get past. My mom died when I was a baby and ever since then my dad...well I guess he only had long enough to look after me when I was really young. When he left, it was cause he was hibernating. Waiting until I had to find him again…."

"Lucy. I already told you I wanna mate for life but it aint that simple for half-dragons. See we can't have kids." his eyes darkened and Lucy froze.

It wasn't like Lucy had really thought about her future with Natsu; she hadn't really had the spare time in her morning. But she just expected kids to be in her future. She always expected to be a mother. Even if she had a lousy husband she would have always loved her kids. But here she was. The perfect guy. Her missing piece. But she would never get to see little Lucy's and Natsu's running around. She mourned. Right there and then. She felt like her heart wept for children she would never even have. It hurt.

But she knew whatever she was feeling, Natsu felt ten times worse. She knew he would feel guilty for being the reason she was deprived.

She didn't even think when she got on her knees and pulled him into her arms, hugging him tightly.

"I love you." said firmly, trying not to give away the fact that she was holding back tears.

"Luce." he replied and she let him go so he could speak, but still clasped onto his hands. "There's a way, though. A way to have kids. But it comes at a cost." she gripped his hands tighter. "Igneel...it would kill him…" he held her hands tightly and dropped his head.

She pulled him to her again, holding his head to her chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I'll love you either way. Forever." she promised, holding him tight.

"I already decided, Luce." he said. "It's what my old man wants. Though I kinda wished he would meet her before..." he frowned, a dark look of sadness washing over his features.

"Her?" Lucy asked, laughing through her tears.

"Yeah, Luce. We're gonna have a girl first. I already made my mind up." he said blinking away his unhappy look, pulling away from her to give her a searing kiss.

"I don't think it works like that!" she laughed, the last of her tears falling down her face.

"It does when it our kid!" he grinned, kissing her again.

"I give up!" she replied, smiling back.

"There is one more thing though…" he frowned, but the darkness had left his eyes.

"What is it?"

"I have ta go find him. Igneel. It means I'm gonna have to leave you and Happy for a while, and I don't know when I'm gonna be back."

"Oh…"

"I'm planning on leaving tomorrow morning."

"Oh…"

Silence hung between them like a man at the gallows.

* * *

Out of all of the reactions Natsu predicted Lucy would have to the news that he was leaving in the morning, he could not predict the actual one she had.

After a minute of deathly silence, Lucy had, without warning, pounced on him, jumping into his lap and curling her arms around his neck so she could pull him into a kiss. He had been pretty sure, up until that point, that he had mated the best woman in the world but now he was one hundred percent sure.

He kissed her back with vigour, and pulled at her clothes, even more desperate to get skin to skin than he was when they woke up. Lucy pulled at his clothes too and they drew apart, standing up to shed their garments as quickly as possible before jumping at each other again. They unceremoniously collapsed to the floor, Lucy landing on top of him, something he was going to correct until he saw her mischievous smile, curious, he let her stay, gripping at her hips lightly as he saw the start of bruises forming from their time earlier.

His hands slowly made their way up her exposed body, his erection becoming more pronounced as he felt her creamy skin and watched her generous chest, soon enough he could feel it pressed against her ass, something which only made him harder.

She leaned down to kiss him again and he growled at the feeling of her breasts pressed up against his naked chest. For him, there was no better feeling in the world than being naked with Lucy. She smiled, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking and pulled away from his lips to grace him with another cunning smile. He narrowed his eyes, watching intently as she shimmied her way down his body, until her mouth was level with his crotch. He breathed in sharply.

Keeping her eyes glued to his the whole time, she slowly, languorously, dragged her tongue along the length of his shaft, not even twitching as it jumped in approval. Natsu felt the need to let his eyes roll back in his head but he refused to look away. He wanted some semblance of power still in his court. He gave her a cheeky grin despite the fact that he felt like whining, and tucked his hands behind his head, eager to see what she did next, determined not to falter by her actions.

It took him a few seconds after she took him in her mouth before he let out a broken sound that was something between a growl and a whine. To hell with staying in power, his woman knew what she was doing - something he was going to question her about later - and he was not going to waste any time complaining.

He moaned as she swirled her tongue over the head, with light, experimental touches. She moved her tongue all over, seeing what he liked and if anything felt uncomfortable and, eventually, she found a combination which was making him pant and sweat, but before his coil was tight enough to snap, she stopped, seemingly panting herself.

He gave her a heated look and she dove back on his body so they were, once again, face to face. Then she was kissing him with a desperation that matched his own. He couldn't hold out any longer as he flipped them both over and, without another second of thought, filled her with himself.

"Natsu!" she cried out as their slick bodies slid against each other.

Instead of the fast-paced fucking that he was used to giving her, he took it slow, worshipping her body, praising her with every ounce of love and desire he had for her. For the first time they were really making love. He was overcome with the need to show her how much he would miss her when he was gone. How much his body would ache, _burn_ , for her when he was without her.

"I need you," she gasped, as he kept up his slow, hard pace.

"Mine." he growled in return, pulling her closer, coaxing her to wrap her legs tightly around his back, as if he could brand himself on her beautiful skin.

"Yours!" she moaned in reply at a particularly hard thrust.

"Only mine. No one else. If anyone else even _tries_ to touch...I'll kill them all." he said through gritted teeth, feeling the coil tight enough to snap.

"Only you," she cooed, gripping onto his back, her need for marking him seeming almost as strong as his for her.

Just as he was about to go mad from being unable to peak, she spoke again.

"Faster!" she begged.

Never being able to deny her, he growled again before aggressively pounding into her, praying she would find her release before he burst.

They came together, their cries echoing in the tent. They both found themselves panting, still gripping onto each other tightly, neither of them willing to let the other go too soon. Finally, Lucy's grip sagged and he rolled them over so that she was lying on top of him, her face buried into his shoulder.

"I don't want you to go," she said quietly, her broken voice portraying nothing of the cocky vixen that he had seen only moments before.

He let out a large sigh and held onto her tighter, kissing the top of her head with a frown.

"I know, Luce. But I have to." he replied soberly.

"I wish we could just stay like this forever." she said, her head emerging from his shoulder, a cute pout on her lips.

"Yeah, me too. But I gotta do this. That 'an I'm pretty sure Happy'll be back soon!" he said with a smile.

"Stupid cat," she complained.

He laughed and watched her as she got up to dress, appreciating the curves of her body in the light inside of the tent. He sighed again as he got up to dress himself, not knowing whether he should be happy or sad that this would be his last day with Lucy for a while. He knew he had to make the most of it, and he was glad that he would be able to see his father again, but he couldn't help the terrible void in his heart he felt whenever he thought of leaving her.

Happy, ever being the one to break up important moment, seemed to fly in just at the right time again. The dark silence that hung between them before had once again returned after they were dressed, they sat apart with faces drawn in thought.

"Natsu! Lucy! You're back!" the cat cried flying between them, not being able to sense the grisly atmosphere.

"Hey, Buddy!" Natsu greeted, hoping he wouldn't sound off.

"Natsu, why does Lucy have that ugly look on her face?" he asked, half snarkiness, half honest concern.

"I'm not ugly, cat!" Lucy snapped in response, but Natsu frowned at the question. He had to tell him the truth now that he would be leaving tomorrow morning.

"Happy. We have to talk." Natsu spoke seriously.

* * *

"Lucy?" Wendy squeaked as she found her slumped against a table at the far end of the food tent.

"Oh. Wendy. Hi!" Lucy replied, trying to muster some semblance of enthusiasm after being kicked out of Natsu's - _their_ \- tent because Happy decided that he wanted some 'man' time with Natsu since he wasn't allowed to go find Igneel with him.

"Um, I'm sorry if I'm interrupting you, but I was wondering if you knew where Natsu was?"

The girl looked unsure as she watched Lucy's face, obviously searching for signs of unhappiness.

"No, it's fine, Wendy! Natsu's actually just spending some quality time with Happy since he's leaving tomorrow. I got kicked out of the tent so I don't know if it's a good time…"

"Oh...well, would it be alright if I talked to you instead?" she smiled.

"Of course. That's what friends are for, right?" Lucy giggled.

"Right!" Wendy cheered, and took a seat next to a no longer moping Lucy. "Well I guess I'll start by saying, though I'm half-dragon like Natsu and Gajeel, my dragon side didn't come from my dad like it did for them. My dragon side came from my mum. Her name is Grandeeney and she's a wind dragon like I am." she paused and had a sad look on her face. "Where Natsu's going...I can't go until it's time for me as well. But I miss her a lot, you know? I haven't seen my mum since I was really young and I just want to know that she's okay," she nodded, a few tears building up in her eyes.

Lucy didn't hesitate to give the girl a hug. Truthfully, all these family revelations made her think about her own family; her father who was probably still wishing for her safe return. Wendy hiccuped a few times into Lucy's shoulder before pulling away.

"I'll tell Natsu to find her. I'm sure she's fine Wendy. I bet she misses you just as much!" Lucy smiled, trying to will her tears away. As much as her father could be heartless, he was still her father and she missed him.

"Thank you, Lucy!" Wendy beamed, the last of her tears gone.

"No problem. I'm sure you're mum is an amazing woman." Lucy reassured her.

"Yeah, she really is."

The two girls chatted for a few minutes longer before Happy came flying into the tent in tears. Lucy, both scared and concerned, quickly scooped up the cat into her arms and held him close until he stopped crying.

"What is it, Happy? Is Natsu okay?"

"HE TRIED TO KILL ME!" He cried, hiding in Lucy's bosom.

"What?!" Wendy squeaked, Lucy's eyes widened with shock.

Just as she was about to contemplate whether Natsu was back in his dragon mode or not, the man himself burst into the tent after Happy. A very naked Natsu. A very angry, very naked Natsu.

"HAPPY! GIVE ME BACK MY STUFF!" he yelled, storming over to them.

Lucy quickly dropped the cat, losing all sympathy, to put her hands over Wendy's eyes before his lower half came into view of them.

"Natsu! Put some clothes on!" Lucy hissed as he got into view.

"I WOULD IF HAPPY HADN'T STOLEN THEM ALL!" he roared, looking ready - as Happy had said - to kill the cat.

"What about the clothes you were wearing earlier?" she squeaked, trying desperately not to look down.

Natsu stopped and the comment, looking to the floor and blushing. Scratching the back of his head; the adorable gesture evidence of his embarrassment.

"He tricked me…" he mumbled lowly.

"HAPPY!" Lucy growled, looking down at the blue cat who was currently hiding behind her legs. He tried to run, but she caught him after making sure Wendy's eyes were still shut. "Natsu, go back to the tent." she said evenly, the threat evident in her voice.

"AYE!" he squealed and dashed off back out of the tent leaving a quiet crowd. Half gawking, half looking at Lucy as if they were trying to solve how the puzzle pieces fit together. She blushed, dragging the cat out of the tent with her before anyone could question her.

"Where did you put his clothes, Happy?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"I-I hid them by the river!" he confessed, trying to scramble away from her tight grasp when she gave him an angry stare.

"Could you please go bring them back?" she asked with a sigh. Happy stopped resisting and slumped his shoulders.

"Aye," he replied, downtrodden.

She let him go, but just before he flew off to the river she spoke again.

"I'm going to miss him too," she said with a half-hearted smile.

With a nod and a sad look, Happy flew off to retrieve Natsu's clothes and Lucy went to their tent.

She pushed inside to find Natsu - just as bare as before - lying down on his bed and looking up and the ceiling. He didn't look her way as she entered, but she knew that he was more than aware that she was there.

"I think he's just scared of you leaving," she said, lying down next to him, trying to ignore the fact that he was gloriously naked. "I know I am." she added, blushing a little.

Natsu turned over to face her, his face unreadable.

"S'not like I wanna leave you guys," he huffed and she couldn't help but smile.

"I know. So does Happy." she smiled, leaning forward to give him a short, sweet kiss. Almost laughing when she found him still frowning.

"I'm gonna come straight back and it's not like I'll be gone _that_ long…" his frown deepened.

"You sound like you're trying to convince yourself more than you are me," she giggled.

"Yeah, well it aint like I know how ta live without you now…" he grumbled, looking away with a slight blush on his cheeks.

Lucy's whole face lit up and she couldn't help but kiss him again. He seemed surprised by her reaction at first, but soon enough she heard him moan and felt him reciprocate. She held his face, not willing to give up just yet. Natsu seemed to have the same idea, as he pushed her on her back, draping himself over her body so he could kiss her more thoroughly.

"Geez, is this what you guys do all day?"

Lucy and Natsu both jumped apart as they heard the snarky comment from Gray. Natsu growled, narrowing his eyes and Lucy's whole face turned red. Natsu being naked did _not_ help matters.

"What the hell d'ya want, icebreath?" Natsu snapped, crossing his legs and artfully covering his crotch with his fists.

"I heard there was a naked idiot on the loose. Guess they weren't lyin'" Gray chuckled, turning to Lucy to raise an eyebrow.

"Happy stole his clothes!" she squeaked in reply.

"Suuuure," he said with a cocky look on his face, obviously enjoying the way her face turned a darker shade of red.

"Oi! Don't make Lucy feel uncomfortable!" Natsu growled.

"You're the one who's naked!" Gray cried.

"You don't look too far off yourself," Natsu scoffed.

Gray looked down to discover his shirt was already on the floor.

"Dammit!"

"At least Lucy _likes_ seeing _me_ naked!" Natsu barked.

"NATSU!" Lucy cried in horror.

"Probably just pretendin' cause she doesn't want you to feel bad," Gray laughed.

"GRAY!"

"What? You're saying you really want that monster anywhere near your-"

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Nastu shouted, jumping up to punch him.

"WHY'S EVERYONE NAKED?!" Happy cried, flying back with Natsu's clothes just at the right time.

"I'M NOT NAKED, STUPID CAT!" Lucy snapped.

"I just walked in on them naked, so don't ask me!" Gray explained, all whilst taking off his pants.

"I'M _NOT_ NAKED!" Lucy huffed.

"I don't have any clothes! Unlike the other two!" Natsu complained.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY I'M NOT NAKED!"

"If you think about it, Lucy's the real perv here…" Gray commented grabbing his chin and standing next to Natsu who had taken up the same pose.

"You're right. Lucy's a bigger pervert than you are…" Natsu agreed.

"I HATE ALL OF YOU!" she cried, giving up once she realised she was in a room full of idiots, smacking her head with her hand.

"Here are your clothes, Natsu!" Happy said cheerily, all of them seemingly ignoring Lucy's breakdown.

"Thanks, Buddy!" he smiled.

The room fell to silence as both of the boys started putting their clothes back on. Lucy was half-tempted to leave when she remembered the conversation she had with Wendy.

"Natsu, can I speak with you alone for a minute?" she asked absentmindedly.

"Yeah, sure." he replied with a lopsided smile.

"Watch out, Natsu! She might get you naked again!" Happy cried in mock-horror.

"Shut up, cat!" Lucy hissed.

"Don't worry, Buddy. I wouldn't mind!" Natsu laughed, leaving Lucy blushing as he motioned for her to follow him out the door.

"Lucy's a pervert~!" Happy sang, marginally avoiding getting hit as she made her way outside with Natsu.

They walked to the edge of the forest, out of earshot everyone in camp, before he stopped and turned to face her.

"So what did ya want ta say?" he asked, a childish grin on his face.

"Wendy asked me if you would be able to find her mum when you went to see Igneel. I think she misses her a lot and would appreciate the peace of mind…" Lucy said, her eyes glazing over towards the end of the sentence as she thought about her own family.

"Well, I was gonna try to do it anyway but now I'll make sure I find Grandeeney for sure!" he smiled.

"You're the best," Lucy said with a sad smile.

She wanted to see her family. She missed her father a lot. But she knew that Natsu wouldn't be happy with her going back home alone. Especially when he would be away himself. So she thought it would probably be best not to talk about it.

"What's with that face, Luce?" Natsu frowned, stepping closer to her.

"Nothing," she lied. "Guess it just reminds me of the fact that my mum died when I was pretty young."

Natsu's jaw clenched and he scooped her up in his arms, holding her close and putting his chin on her head.

"I'm sorry. I never even knew my mum...she died in childbirth." he said quietly, holding her tighter.

"Oh, Natsu…" she sighed, hugging him back.

"It's okay. I had my Dad and then I had Fairy Tail. I think I had a pretty good childhood considering!" he said cheerily.

Lucy had no idea how he was able to muster up so much enthusiasm but she put a smile on for him as they pulled apart.

"Well you turned out alright," she teased.

"I'm better than alright!" he scoffed, fist punching the air, flames enveloping his knuckles. After maniacally laughing he let the flames die down and cupped her face in his hands which were still warm to the touch. "I've got you, so I'm the luckiest guy in the world." he added sincerely, a light dusting of red on his cheeks.

"Yeah, I think I'm pretty lucky too!" she replied, a huge smile on her lips.

"Lucky Lucy, huh?" he chuckled, not noticing the way her smile fell.

Lucky Lucy. That was what her father called her.

* * *

Natsu had spent the rest of his day torn between wanting to spend the entire day in bed with Lucy and hanging out with his friends. Sadly, the latter ending up being what happened. Not that he wasn't planning on kicking Happy out for the night so they could stay up late and he could fill his mind with the taste and feel of every inch of her skin…

"Oi, Salamander!" Gajeel said, shoving him and snapping him out of his daydream.

"What?!" he snapped crabbily.

"You even listenin'?" he asked.

"I said I'd go see Metalicana! What more do you want?" Natsu complained.

"This aint about that!" Gajeel growled.

"Then what is it about?" Natsu frowned.

"It's about the shrimp," Gajeel said quietly. Natsu was unsure but he thought he might have seen a slight blush on his face.

"Levy?" he asked.

"Yeah. Not so loud…" Gajeel grumbled.

"What about 'er?"

"Well, you've known her longer, so could you, y'know...tell me if she likes those bozo's that hang around 'er?" he said quietly.

"And what do I get out of it?" Natsu asked, his mouth upturned in a huge cheshire smile.

"I'll tell you some stories about Bunny Girl," Gajeel replied, crossing his arms.

"Deal. As far as I know, Levy's only ever liked one guy." Natsu replied.

"Who?" Gajeel asked with narrowed eyes.

"You, idiot. Lucy goes on about it all the time."

"R-Really?"

"Yeah, dumbass. Now tell me some stories I can hold over Lucy!" He said with an evil cackle.

It was Gajeel's turn to smile an evil, cunning grin. Natsu felt a little unnerved, but didn't show it.

"If you insist…"

"I do." He huffed.

"Well I guess I can tell you about all of the guys that tried to get Lucy in bed with them…"

"The WHAT?!" He growled, not liking the image of any scummy guy anywhere near Lucy.

"Oh, yeah. Bunny girl was _real_ popular with the guys. There was even this one guy that was constantly hitting on her. Always kissing her hand and calling her his _princess_ …"

"HE WHAT?! TELL ME WHERE HE IS! I'M GONNA MURDER HIM!" Natsu snapped, seeing red.

"Oh, no. That wasn't part of our deal, Salamander. But you're welcome to sit here with me and listen to all the ways he hit on her as _long_ as you like…" he chuckled darkly.

"NO!" Natsu barked, not knowing how much more he could take.

"Damn…and I had some _really_ funny stories about her as well…" Gajeel sighed, an evil twinkle in his eye.

"FIGHT ME YOU BASTARD!" Natsu roared.

"My pleasure…" Gajeel said calmly, cracking his knuckles before taking a swing which Natsu swiftly avoided.

"NATSU! GAJEEL!" Erza roared in the distance.

The both stopped in their tracks, looking at each other and silently agreeing to run away.

"COME BACK HERE, COWARDS!" she shouted.

"Thanks for the tip, Salamander." Gajeel said before they parted ways.

Natsu huffed and made his way back to Lucy who seemed to be having a serious talk with Mira. Without bothering to listen in on their conversation, he marched over to her and snatched her away, kissing her quickly and deeply - needing the reassurance after his conversation with Gajeel - and then pulling away.

"Mine," he grumbled, nuzzling her neck.

"Natsu! I was in the middle of a conversation!" she berated.

" _Mine_." He repeated.

"Dragons are so weird…" she mumbled. "If I say yes will you let me go?"

He pulled away from her neck to pout at her.

"You _are_ mine." He said firmly, pulling at the collar of her dress to reveal his bite mark, looking at it with a satisfied smirk.

"What's gotten into you?" she asked with a laugh and rolled her eyes. "If you're worried I'm going to run off with someone else when you're gone-" he growled and she rolled her eyes again. "Then you have nothing to worry about. I'm probably going to spend my days _and_ nights missing the hell out of you and trying my best to get my mind off of it." she laughed and he sighed, feeling a lot better.

"I love you, idiot. I thought we already established that!" she smiled and gave him a quick kiss. "And it's _only_ you."

It hardly took a second for a bright smile to take over his face.

"I love you too, weirdo. So much…" he sighed and hugged her tight.

"Good. Now let me go, idiot! I was in the middle of a conversation!" she huffed.

He gave a hearty laugh before letting her go.

"Come back to the tent when you're done. I've got something planned." he said lowly, giving her a devious smile.

Only waiting to watch her blush before he left to go back to the tent.

* * *

"He still doesn't know yet then?" Mirajane asked, watching Lucy carefully.

"It's not like I don't want to tell him! But with everything that's happening right now...I'm not sure it's the right time." she confessed with a sigh.

"Are you worried it will change the way he thinks about you?" Mirajane asked, making Lucy frown.

"I...I don't know. I know he's not going to change his mind or anything, but...I guess I have a lot of experience of people wanting me for my money rather than for myself…" she replied, trying not to sound too downtrodden.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about. Natsu maybe half-dragon but I can assure you you're a more important part of his hoard than gold is." Mira giggled.

"Thanks, Mira." she smiled.

"Anyway, I thought dragons had a thing about capturing _princesses_ ," the silver-haired woman teased.

"Maybe…" Lucy blushed.

"Now go make the most of the time you have with him now." she egged, giving Lucy a knowing smile before she left to find Erza, leaving Lucy with her thoughts.

Lucy wasn't sure what to expect when she found her way back into their tent. She was pretty sure she hadn't seen Happy earlier, so she was fully expecting the cat and Natsu to be planning some horrible fate for her. She had heard them talking - plenty of times - about how they were going to draw on her face when she was sleeping; something she, not too fondly, told them she would _not_ be happy with. But, instead, she found Natsu lying between their furs, staring at the ceiling with that serious expression he had been wearing a lot more lately.

"Natsu?" she asked, snapping him out of his daze.

He turned his face to look at her, a small smile on his lips, though he eyes were narrowed in concentration as if he was trying to memorise her face. He frowned.

"Hey," he said simply, his eyes still searching.

"Is everything okay?" she asked with her own frowned, moving to take a seat next to where he was lying.

He sat up to face her and gave a large sigh, sitting cross legged he leaned forward and buried his face in her neck, inhaling deeply.

"I'm gonna miss you." he complained, rubbing his nose up and down her neck until she shivered.

"You won't be gone that long," she promised - it was one for both of their sakes.

"Too long." he replied, pulling back from her neck to give a childish pout. "I wish I didn't have to leave you at all."

"Are you still scared I'm going to run away and leave you?" she laughed.

"You're too good for me," he said, as if he was making a point.

"You're an idiot." she sighed.

"That too." he frowned.

"It was a joke, Natsu. Didn't I tell you I love you? I'm _pretty sure_ that means forever." she chastised.

"That's not long enough," he sighed and gave her a cheeky grin.

"Maybe not." she laughed and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

* * *

Natsu couldn't sleep.

Yeah, he had just had some _amazing_ sex, and, yeah, he had the most amazing girl in the world in his arms, but he just _couldn't_ sleep. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that he would have to leave - both the amazing sex and the amazing girl - in the morning. Every time he thought about it he felt a horrible twisting sensation in his stomach.

It's not like he wasn't excited to see his old man - he couldn't keep the smile off his face even if he wanted to - but leaving Lucy - _his Lucy_ \- behind was killing him.

He stroked her hair soothingly - though it was probably more soothing for him than for her - loving how the silky strands felt on his skin.

It was strange, a couple of weeks ago he wouldn't have even considered that he could be in bed with a woman, let alone one as perfect as the one he had. A couple of weeks ago his life revolved around eating, sleeping, hunting and happy and now...it was like everything he did was for Lucy; he _lived_ for her. Her smile, her laugh, her pants, her moans...fuck, he would do _anything_ to make her moan. His life was in the palm of her hands…

That was probably why Natsu couldn't sleep. Because he knew he had to leave her in the morning. And if he came back and she was gone...he didn't know how he would deal with that. He would probably end up burning down the camp in a fit of rage; he was known to have quite temper.

He held onto her tighter and forced himself to shut his eyes despite the horrible sinking sensation he felt. He was going to have to leave in the morning whether he slept or not. He sighed and changed their positions so that he ended up with his head on her chest, he instantly felt better, melting against the heat of her body, lulled by the soft beating of her heart.

Tomorrow he would leave, but tonight he could spend another precious night in her company.

* * *

 **Thank you so much to everyone who had supported this story, especially over this stupidly long break. I am hoping to get back to more regular writing now that I've graduated ( with a 2:1 in Archaeology ^-^ ), though I'm hoping to get a job soon so who knows! Another reason I have been taking a long time to post this new chapter is because I have been doing _a lot_ of fanart! **

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter! I shall try to post the next part within a week but it might be two.**


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